PSG/Paris FC: Gilli’s strong words on the win and the rivalry

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·13 gennaio 2026

PSG/Paris FC: Gilli’s strong words on the win and the rivalry

Paris Saint-Germain and Paris FC faced each other this Monday at the Parc des Princes in the Round of 32 of the 2025-2026 French Cup. A match that ended with a victory for PFC 0-1 (PSG/Paris FC highlights). After the match, Stéphane Gilli, the winning coach, spoke at the press conference. He highlighted his team’s good work and was asked about a possible rivalry with PSG.

Gilli: “We suffered in the last 10-15 minutes.”

“I told the players that I was proud of what they had done but that I couldn’t be happy as a competitor, because we had lost. Tonight, I told them I was proud and happy, with the result, with what they showed, with the team’s values, even though we suffered in the last 10-15 minutes. We watched a lot of videos, went over things we had analyzed that hadn’t worked very well, turnovers, lack of technical precision, so I asked them to play a bit more, and that’s what we did. We built on what we did well last week, because we did some good things.”

Gilli: “There is no rivalry.”

No. It might take seven, eight, nine years… Where PSG is right now, it will take time for Paris FC to try to get closer. So, there is no rivalry. But I am proud for my players, the club, the management, the shareholders, and especially our supporters. For now, I can’t talk about a rivalry, already because of the standings, and also because of what this team has achieved in recent years, the Champions League, they have won almost every trophy… So there is no rivalry.”

It’s understandable that Gilli is happy; he secured qualification for the Round of 16 of the French Cup after a particularly tough draw. Few really believed that the feat was possible. The players needed to be given hope, to be ready to give everything in the face of difficulty, and to hope for a PSG that wasn’t at its best.

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Luis Enrique’s team largely dominated, except they forgot about efficiency. That’s where PFC excelled. And this shouldn’t be minimized, since it’s part of football and makes the difference in the end between elimination and qualification.

However, Stéphane Gilli might be exaggerating a little about what his team did better compared to the Ligue 1 defeat. PFC suffered at least as much, and PSG mostly missed more chances. It’s a small gift that PFC can gladly accept.

This victory might add a bit of spice to the next derby, but it’s difficult to talk about a “real rivalry.” There is too much of a gap between the two projects today. Even though football means everything can change in a single match.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇫🇷 here.