My Ligue 1: Rony Lopes | OneFootball

The Portuguese international midfielder is now with his fourth Ligue 1 Uber Eats club at ESTAC Troyes. He sat down with The Ligue 1 Show on beIN Sports to look back over some of the highlights of his career in the French game.

Now aged 27, Lopes  returned to Ligue 1 at the beginning of this season when he joined Troyes on loan from Sevilla. He first came to France in 2014 when he joined LOSC Lille from Manchester City. The Brazilian-born star later also played for AS Monaco and then had a stint at OGC Nice, making 33 appearances there in the 2020/21 campaign.

Best memory?

“In my first season in Lille, we won at home. I made one assist then I scored the winning goal. It was very special this one because we won against Lyon at home, the atmosphere in the stadium was amazing so this one was a good one!”

Worst memory?

“I think the worst was my first season in Lille when I got injured. Then when I came back I played straight away, I was in the starting eleven and I was playing a great game against Saint-Etienne I think and I got injured again. This one was a hard one to take.”

Best goal?

“I think it was against Reims, it was a free-kick. It was special because normally I don’t take free-kicks like this. Normally I take free-kicks in-swinging, but this one I hit it with all the power I could because I think I was also stressed, I was nervous with the coach and everything so I just kicked it as hard as I could.”

Best team-mate?

“Well, I played with Kylian so…Kylian! Because I was there when he started to come up with the first team and I was there also when he moved to PSG. Kylian, and Fabinho was amazing also! João Moutinho, Lemar as well.”

Toughest opponent?

“I played against some good ones you know. Thiago Silva, Marquinhos maybe. It’s not because they are tough or like this, just they are really clever, they know how to position themselves and when they have to be tough they are tough.”

Best coach?

“It’s difficult to choose the best one. All of them taught me something but I remember two are special. Thierry Henry - I was with him a short amount of time but he was very good. They didn’t give him enough time in Monaco. He came when it was difficult, and then when we had all the players fit so he could really start to show his work I think they gave him one or two games.

“And the one I had in Manchester City, Patrick Vieira. They are the best two. I just felt sad for his time in Nice because I felt I could give much more to Patrick, that he deserved more but it was the worst period of my personal life. I wish things were different because he trusted me you know, I wanted to be there for him and it was sad when he left the club because I felt that our relationship could be very good in Nice but it was not the best moment in my personal life.”

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