Translation of the interview with the Midi Libre newspaper:

• Do you believe in the French football team which will not present itself with its best players, as always every 4 years?

I’m not interested in the French Olympic team. Football is not an Olympic sport. I know the ins and outs of all the discussions for 20 years about the presence of football in the Olympics. We bring football because it’s the sport that fills the stadium. It’s football that attracts the most spectators, that’s all. Fifa (International Football Federation) never wanted the best (players) to come. We are entitled to a B, C, D team… It has no interest.

• Does this shock you, does it bother you?

No, that doesn’t shock me at all. It’s normal. Clubs cannot pay players who are at the Euro for a month and then another month for the Olympic Games. It is not possible. For football, the Games are not the most important competition. For women’s football, on the other hand, it’s something else.

• The Spanish are forcing clubs to release their internationals…

(He cuts.) If the Games took place in Papua New Guinea, would you be happy if the best French people went there and missed the qualifications for the European Cups of their clubs?

As it is in France, we gargle. I’ve been in football for 40 years, we’ve been talking about it for 40 years and football is still not on the Fifa calendar. If Real wants to let Mbappé play, why not. But if he doesn’t want to…