Denis Zakaria: “It’s a superb victory for the team today” | OneFootball

After scoring his team's fifth penalty, to allow AS Monaco to stay alive in the shootout, the Swiss midfielder spoke in the mixed zone to discuss qualification for the round of 32.

It was a real Cup match! At the end of a 90 minutes where the two teams went tit for tat, the Round of 64 match was finally decided on penalties. And in this game, it was AS Monaco who emerged victorious against Lens after the ninth attempts (2-2 5-6). Scorer of the fifth shot in the shootout, Denis Zakaria spoke in the mixed zone to talk about his joy at continuing the adventure. 🗣️

I already remember the fact that we are past this round, it is never easy to come to Lens. Today is a superb victory for the team. We were able to show our courage, our character and the best of AS Monaco. It was certain that they were going to put a lot of pressure on us after we made it 0-2.

Hello Denis. What do you remember from this qualification?

I already remember the fact that we are past this round, it is never easy to come to Lens. Today is a superb victory for the team. We were able to show our courage, our character and the best of AS Monaco. It was certain that they were going to put a lot of pressure on us after we made it 0-2. We conceded two goals, perhaps we need to work on that.

It wasn’t easy to keep up the match, we managed to hold on and it’s a great win. The penalty shootout was stressful. Radeck helped us a lot by being the author of several saves. Penalties are a bit of a “lottery”, I am very happy that we are the victorious team.

But more generally, what a match! These Cup matches are really something…

Clearly. It’s my first Coupe de France match and it wasn’t the easiest. It was a very good match for the spectators in any case and we are happy to be the victorious team. We will take it match by match and watch the draw now to discover our next opponent. We will give our best to get through to the next round, and we will always operate in this way.

How do you explain a good first 35 minutes and a change in level afterwards?

It’s hard to say. We started very well, the first 35 minutes were really for us. It’s the first match after the break, there are a lot of things to work on. It’s never easy to start again and I think unfortunately it got harder afterwards. It’s not easy to come and play here with the crowd pushing them on; this is also a bit normal.

Apart from the penalties, Radeck was also the author of several saves in the match…

He was very strong. When I arrived here, I was very surprised by the quality of the squad. All the players can play, it’s proof that we are not 11 or 14 players but indeed a squad at AS Monaco. We need everyone on this team. He didn’t need us to have a big match.