Anaïg Butel: “The team is conquering”

Before playing against Soyaux for the 13th round of the D1 Arkema, Anaïg Butel spoke to us. The Paris FC central defender praised the continuity of the Parisian squad, third in the league so far.

Anaïg, the year 2022 started well with a qualification in the French Cup and a victory in the derby against Issy. How does the team approach the second half of the season?

We have to approach it in the same way. The hardest part is still to come, we have to remain concentrated and serious. Everything started well with two wins in 2022. There is no room for complacency, we must remain focused on our objectives.

Against Issy (1-0), Paris FC came close to a draw at the end of the game. These games against lower-ranked opponents are perhaps more complicated…

That’s clearly it. We have to be concentrated from start to finish. These are teams that are hungry and will not give up until the last minute. We saw against Issy that the slightest mistake can be very costly. The teams in the second half of the table will sell their skin dearly and that’s normal. It’s up to us not to let games slip away, as we’ve done well since the start of the season.

What will we have to do against Soyaux this Saturday to avoid cold sweats?

I think we will have to be more technically correct. That’s what we lacked against Issy. We know what we have to do with our individual and collective qualities. Our strength since the beginning of the season is the team, the group, so we have to keep pulling in the same direction and there is no reason why we can’t do it. Today, these are clearly the most important matches to win. Before thinking about the big games at the end of the season, we have to take as many points as possible against the lower-ranked teams who won’t give up.

“This group is our strength”

7 clean sheets since the beginning of the season is better than the last two seasons at the same time (2 in 2019-2020 and 3 in 2020-2021). How do you explain this performance?

The key element of this success is continuity. Continuity in the group, the players, the work. This stability brings more automatisms, more habits. As I said before, it’s this group that makes us strong. We have managed to build up a lot of confidence and we have to keep it until the end of the season and even after…

You have been at the club for 15 seasons. What are your ambitions for the end of the season?

I think we all want to keep this third place. That’s also why I’ve stayed at the club. I want to experience the excitement of the Champion’s League again. Our team is a conquering one, fighting for this place in Europe. It would be wonderful to be back in Europe.