Adi Hütter on Monaco’s Champions League qualification: “Sometimes you feel like you have a sack of rocks on your back…” | OneFootball

AS Monaco wrapped up qualification for next season’s UEFA Champions League with a 2-0 win over Olympique Lyonnais on Saturday, to the relief of their manager Adi Hütter, who had come under pressure in recent weeks.

In his first season at Monaco, the Austrian guided the club to a second-place finish. This season, in what has been an extremely tight race for the European places, pressure had ramped up as the season neared its conclusion with questions even being asked about his future at the club.

For him personally, as well as everyone around the club, Champions League qualification comes as a relief. “When you are Monaco manager, you are always under pressure […] sometimes you feel like you have a sack of rocks on your back and now I’m feeling really light,” he said in a post-match press conference attended by Get French Football News.

He believes that, given Monaco’s run to the knockout phase of the Champions League this season, the achievement in qualifying for next season’s edition is superior to last season’s qualification. “We played 11 more games than last season. This season, the success if higher than last season, in my opinion. It was a demanding season and there were some waves. We had to be there in the crunch time, and we were, again,” he added.

GFFN | Luke Entwistle