His exit, face closed and a big kick in a bottle that passed by, came to confirm, Thursday evening, the rather lukewarm nature of relations between Arkadiusz Milik and Jorge Sampaoli. Author of a double, the Polish international had obviously not appreciated being replaced by Dimitri Payet in the 68th minute of the first leg of the Europa League Conference against Qarabag (3-1).
The two men offer a Provençal remake of “I love you, me neither”. This Friday at a press conference, the fiery Argentine technician was even somewhat annoyed by his player’s recurring moods. “I talked to him about it. I told him he should be happy. (…) He scored two goals, OM won, he must also be happy because a partner came on in his place, insists Sampaoli. It feels like the players are looking for excuses not to be happy. The team won even though they didn’t play well, so he must be happy… If he isn’t, ask him why and he should talk to someone else about it, but not with me “.
The hour of misunderstanding
Not always a starter since the start of the year, Milik, absent from May to the end of September 2021 due to a knee injury, scored his 15th and 16th goals of the season in all competitions on Thursday evening against Qarabag. . In detail, he thus scored 5 goals in Ligue 1, 5 in the Coupe de France, 4 in the Europa League to which are added the two of this Thursday evening in the Europa League Conference. He is obviously OM’s best director this season. However Sampaoli, little known for his empathy, points to certain shortcomings of the former Neapolitan. “As a scorer, he is one of the top players in this position, observes El Pelado (the bald one). But there may be work to do in terms of communication. He can find free partners on the field, he can also find more spaces. As a pure number 9, it may not be his forte, but he can add these things to his game. We are working in particular on his relationship with his partners on the pitch.
Milik will appreciate! A form of misunderstanding seems to have settled for some time between the two men. In Metz, Sunday February 13, at the end of a match marked by his sumptuous bicycle synonymous with success for OM (2-1), the number 9 had, then, questioned his status as a substitute for the blow sending. “Being a substitute? There are things I don’t understand, but I’m doing my job, ”he said at Amazon’s microphone.