Former Paris Saint-Germain right-back, Christophe Jallet, is hanging up his boots at 36-years-old, and before heading off into the sunset, he interviewed with L’Equipe (via ParisFans).
Jallet spoke about his five seasons with the capital club, where he made 198 appearances, wore the captain’s armband, and was the only player to precede the Qatar Sports Investment era (2011 to current) to land on our PSG’s all-decade team.
During his time in Paris, Jallet was teammates with Zlatan Ibrahimovic and had Carlo Ancelotti as his manager. The Swedish striker was the first superstar to join the PSG project under QSI ownership and Jallet revealed what makes him such a special player.
“Zlatan. Even if he has a strong character, he is an immense champion. Whether he is good or not, he always tries to pull others up even if sometimes it is not the right way,” Jallet said.
“We don’t all have the same qualities, and he had a lot more than us, that’s for sure, but he managed to advance more than one in our team, to win us titles. He is a bit of a bad boy, but he has gone a long way too to achieve exceptional things in his career.”
Jallet then discussed his experience playing under Ancelotti. The Frenchman discussed how Ancelotti treated the players and how that led to him having the entire squad supporting him.
“Carlo Ancelotti, my first foreign coach (at PSG, between 2011 and 2013). I have always praised his human side, which suits me rather well. Beyond the coach he is, since he has won everything everywhere he went, it is his way of managing a group that is huge. I have rarely felt an entire group as much behind its coach.” Jallet said.
“In the PSG locker room, he treated everyone the same: the one who had played all the matches like the one who had only played ten minutes in the season. He understood that in football today, perhaps the most important thing is to succeed in uniting a group behind you. It is his great strength.”
Congratulations to Jallet on a wonderful career and hopefully, PSG will find a way to bring him back to the club in some capacity.
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