OLTV : The best of Mathieu Valbuena on OLNS

The resumption of the Greek league

We resumed training three weeks ago. The league should resume in early June. We are respect the sanitary guidelines. It's a new situation, it's fairly linear. In France, we may have rushed a little. You had to wait. It does financial damage to the clubs. It is difficult for OL because there is no European football at stake. It’s difficult to accept because OL are used to playing in Europe. I still watch a lot of Ligue 1 and OL matches.

Your transition to OL after OM

It was a big challenge for me, I love it. I knew it was going to be very difficult, that I would be expected to turn up, that I would be demanding of myself. The supporters weren't too keen on my coming but they had been sincere with me and had told me so in a discussion with them. My first season was a bit difficult. I was not satisfied with myself. I really wanted to succeed with this club. I have worked hard and I have always achieved my goals in all the clubs in which I have played. I knew the pressure that was on me but I had the shoulders for it, even if it was not always obvious. It all paid off the next year, the best season of my career in Ligue 1.

The Europa League semifinal

It’s the biggest regret of my career. The first leg defeat hurt us a lot. We didn’t make ourselves ready for the conditions of such a match. There was a great Ajax team but we also had a great team. In the previous round against Besiktas, we saw an OL who was hungry. We may have said to ourselves that we just had to control this Ajax match in the first leg and that we were going to make a difference here. We were beaten in our duels, and in our state of mind. It was a great disappointment.