GOAL EXCLUDED – The second number 2 goalkeeper from Saint-Etienne looks back on his career and confides that he is a very different boy off the pitch.
Tuesday night, the Bleuets face Serbia, a country dear to Stefan Bajic. The young goalkeeper from Saint-Etienne spends some of his holidays and still has family ties in his father’s country. Before this meeting, the one who has known all the youth selections with France looks back on his last complicated months in Forez. His status which has evolved with the Greens, his relationship with Etienne Green, his experiences in Ligue 1, his character, his ambitions or even his experience at the Tokyo Olympics, “Baj” did not elude anything for what was his first interview .
You started with the U7 in Saint-Etienne. What does this club represent? And can you imagine yourself playing anywhere other than this club?
This club means a lot to me. All the coaches, goalkeeper coaches or educators gave me the ingredients to become a goalkeeper but they also taught me the values of this city, respect, work, humility. And for that I am grateful to them. After that, I didn’t think about going elsewhere. Today, I am at AS Saint-Etienne. I have my personal goals, but there is also the club’s goal, which is to maintain itself. I am really focused on this. We will see at the end of the season how it goes (he is at the end of his contract in 2022).
When you entered training at ASSE, you were quickly appointed as Ruffier’s successor … wasn’t that a lot of pressure?
On a personal level, I never put any pressure on myself to be Stéphane Ruffier’s successor one day. On the other hand, I felt the external pressure, that which I do not control and which comes from the club or the supporters. It was not necessarily easy to manage, but it is also from the experience that I have gathered. I managed to take a step back and detach myself.
Not to miss
What are its performances?
At the time, in the hierarchy, I was behind Nathan Crémilleux and Etienne Green. Then I started to make the selections for the France team and thanks to my performances, I passed in front. When you pass some goalkeepers who were also international and you perform well, the expectation grows and people expect a lot. This nickname of Ruffier’s successor is flattering, because it shows that people trust you, but at the same time it puts pressure on you which, when you are young, maybe disturbed me a bit.
On being ahead of Etienne Green: “My ego which took a hit”
Exactly, it did not go as planned, how did you experience being beaten by Etienne Green?
It was not an obvious moment. It was the first blow I experienced in my young career. I have always passed in front of the other goalkeepers and this is the first time that I have been passed in front. During this whole season (2020-2021), I was number 2 and I worked a lot to progress and try to have this place of number 1. And then to be taken this place because of an injury, in a very particular context. : Jessy Moulin is injured, the same for me, in the wake of Etienne (Green) plays and is very good. But I got up, I took a step back. The holidays also did me good to evacuate and this season, I am still number 2 but in a much more peaceful spirit.
What bothered you the most about this situation?
It was my ego that took a hit. It is not a question of sports management. The coach makes his choices and they must be respected. I am a competitor and the fact of losing my place, I saw it as a failure.
With Etienne Green, you have known each other since you were a child …
We have a very good relationship with Etienne. It’s rare these days that two goalies get along well in a pro squad. The fact that we grew up and took our classes together, because despite our gap year, we were still in the same training teams. We have a very respectful relationship and we exchange a lot. Whether it is on match situations or that we have seen on TV. There is healthy competition that has developed between us.
With him, do you talk about this competition and the fact that you are pulling each other up?
We never really had this discussion but we come back to certain situations, we say to ourselves: “There, you made a good stop”. When we talk about the match, we ask ourselves, for example: “how did you handle this situation”. We really discuss the different aspects of the position: placements, supports, attitudes and all that in an exchange that brings us both because the goal is to progress and become a little stronger every day.
On the pitch, I don’t smile a lot, I am focused, I have a bit of a cold look …
Tell us about your first year in L1 at 17, two years ago …
My first match was against Metz (0-1, September 25, 2019). It was a kind of “one shot”, because I found myself playing when Ruffier and Moulin were both injured. I played this match with all my heart but I was not necessarily ready for Ligue 1 on the mental and physical aspect, all in a complicated sporting context. But I relied a lot on this match.
In your second match in Monaco, you also play with an injury …
There again, it was a very particular context, Jessy Moulin had had the covid and on the eve of the match at the end of the training session, I severely injured my ankle on a counter-support. But I’m a competitor and I absolutely wanted to play, I saw with the medical and technical staff to see if it was possible, everyone agreed. But behind, we take four, we came across a Monaco team that was unplayable that day. Me, I was very diminished and with hindsight, it is a match that I should not have played, because I was not 100% fit but it is also an experience that I took for more late.
How do you judge your last two appearances against Nice and Monaco?
Already, it made me very happy to play knowing that it had been a while since I had played a professional meeting. After the match in Monaco last season, there was the injury and then on the recovery, I did the preparation with the French Olympic team so I didn’t necessarily have playing time with Sainté. And when you play little, it’s not always easy to find yourself in a match despite the fact that I train a lot. There were some interesting things in these two games. When I came back against Monaco, I made two or three saves which kept the team alive, even if in the end we lost. Against Nice, I started for the first time this season, I have a good first period with interesting things in the content, unfortunately, I made a mistake in the foot which spoils what I did well. Now we have to take a step back and despite that, there were some very interesting points, while still trying to improve.
In Sainté, they say that you hate conceding a goal in training, that you are very vocal during matches …
I really have two different personalities. One when I’m in the field and another outside. On the pitch, I don’t smile a lot, I am focused and determined. I have a real competitive spirit, a little cold look and it is true that I communicate a lot, because I understood one thing, that is that a goalkeeper without his teammates is nothing. With good communication, you can simply avoid goals. Off the pitch, I’m quite a pleasant person to live with, with whom you can talk about everything. I am respectful, observant and attentive.
“At the Olympics, I realized that in the world of football, we are pampered”
You talk about this constant search for improvement. What ambitions do you set for your career?
We all want to play in big clubs, big matches or big competitions but to think in this way is not good. I believe in thinking of the goal as a process and not as a result. My goal is to reach my maximum potential. But where is this going to take me, I don’t know. What interests me is not the finality but the next step and targeting the points to work on, coming back to the points that are good to make them very good, to continually raise your level of play and reach my maximum. And if this level allows me to play the Champions League or maybe one day a World Cup, so much the better. But if I can’t, too bad. As long as I have done my best, I will be at peace with myself.
In a complicated context with Saint-Etienne, is the France Espoirs team a breath of fresh air?
It is certain, we see other people, we change air. It allows you to get some fresh air and come back to the club mentally fresher.
This year, the French team also allowed you to go to the Olympic Games … Tell us about this experience.
It’s a competition that I knew but that I did not necessarily follow. But I was able to experience them from the inside and see how this competition is the most important of all sports. Frankly, I really enjoyed it, I loved being in the Olympic Village and discovering other athletes. I am a very big fan of Novak Djokovic. Just seeing him, shaking his hand and taking a picture brought me back to childhood. Like a kid taking a picture with his idol.
Did being with other athletes in the Olympic Village make you aware of the professional reality of other high-level athletes?
Sure ! I realized that in the world of football, we are pampered. There are less publicized athletes who are Olympic champions and are therefore the best in their discipline but who do not have the same working conditions as us. And this is something that struck me. I saw a judoka, who didn’t even have his coach with him, he had his elastic band on a bar and he was doing movements on his own. And the guy was an Olympic champion. When you see him, you tell yourself that the guy is working, that he doesn’t need to have a coach or a trainer who will motivate him. And it’s the same for other athletes. It was a lesson in humility.