Krépin Diatta's reaction after the defeat in Strasbourg | OneFootball

A few moments after the 3–1 defeat to Strasbourg in the Coupe de France round-of-16, the Senegalese wing-back spoke in the mixed zone.

A frustrating encounter. After a balanced match and several chances created, the Red and Whites fell to defeat to Strasbourg (3-1) in their Coupe de France round-of-16 tie. A few moments after the match, Krépin Diatta, who came on at half time, spoke in the mixed zone to share his feelings. Excerpts. 🎙️

Good evening, Krépin. What is your analysis of this Coupe de France round-of-16 match?

We knew we had to bring the same intensity as we did against Rennes last weekend. Unfortunately, we were a bit lacking in that area, and we paid for it in the result. If you want to win matches, you have to give everything right from the start. We were there in the first five minutes and created chances, but you have to tell yourself that the next opportunity could be the right one and that you have to keep giving everything.

It’s a shame, because I thought we were going to build on the good moments we showed against Rennes, since everyone saw that results could follow if we put in the right ingredients. We were on a run of three matches without a defeat where we fought hard and gave everything we had. Today, I wouldn’t say that we didn’t fight, but we didn’t start the way we expected.

This defeat really hurts my heart because the Club represents something very important to me personally. It’s normal to be disappointed after being knocked out of the Coupe de France, but it’s up to us to change things, because no one will do it for us. The derby is coming up. We have to show a different face and put together a run of wins, because we have the squad to do it.

You clearly seem very affected by this elimination.

I’ve been here for five years, and this defeat really hurts my heart because the Club represents something very important to me personally. It’s normal to be disappointed after being knocked out of the Coupe de France, but it’s up to us to change things, because no one will do it for us. The derby is coming up. We have to show a different face and put together a run of wins, because we have the squad to do it. I believe in this team.

Can winning the AFCON help give the team fresh momentum?

As I’ve already said, AS Monaco is a big club in the French league, but it’s up to us to go and earn those wins. We were AFCON champions with Lamine (Camara), but now we have to switch gears and move on. I’ll say it again: against Rennes, we played a very strong match, but today we fell back into our old habits, where we didn’t put all the right ingredients in place from the start.

The derby takes place on Sunday. We imagine lessons will need to be learned quickly.

Everyone knows that Ligue 1 is a difficult league. If you want to win, you have to give everything you have every single time. We need to find consistency – that’s very important. This defeat should help us understand that we have to do more. The derby is coming up in three days, and we owe it to ourselves to give everything and do everything possible to win it.