Laura Condon took over the field with her club, the ASPTT Albi a few weeks after winning the Euro U19 in Slovakia with the France team. Meet a young player who does not want to grill the stages, between football, studies, ambitions, and work (with a little luck) to achieve it.

Hello Laura. We are in Albi just minutes away from the match against Barcelona. For you it's a little recovery?

Yes I resumed Tuesday by a session of bodybuilding, and since I could play a little against Juvisy, 30 minutes, and against Bilbao 45 minutes, I increase little by little because I do not have the cardio, I have lost a bit with my fifteen days vacation.

So if you took back only Tuesday, it's because you were at rest ...

Yes, I had fifteen days of vacation because a month of competition, it was long and a little tiring.

What memories do you have of this European Championship and this title which is the first for you?

Yes, for me it was a culmination because I had already made two Euros and I lost twice so it was really magic to win and here we had really a great group, really a good atmosphere. And from the beginning, we believed it, even if we had difficulties in the beginning. I'm really glad we won this title.

Can you tell us what happened on the night of the final? (Laughs from Laura) Already on TV it was crazy I guess for you on the field in Slovakia, it had to be even more ...

Yes, it's true that the scenario was really crazy. We arrive at half-time in the locker room. He [Gilles Eyquem] tells us that there will be 25 minutes of half-time. So, we were soaked, we changed our outfits. After he tells us that finally, it will last longer, it will be 30 minutes and then it discussed, the Spanish with our staff also to know if finally we would resume the game or not because the field, it was catastrophic.

He comes back, practically sure that we will play the next day noon the second half and then 10 minutes later, he finally tells us we will resume, we are in the process of restoring the ground. After we went back to warm up, there were puddles everywhere, the balloon stopped. But well after us, we were motivated to resume the game the same evening because it was going to be weird to cut and then resume the next day.

On the field, with the lawn full of water, you still felt like playing football? Was there still pleasure to play to be there in the final?

We, frankly, have ignored that. We just focused on the victory and we forgot that the pitch ... Even if it's true that it was not ... Sometimes there were passes that slowed down, it stopped. But there you go ...

To return to Albi, do you have the impression that this victory with the France U19 team will give you more responsibility within the team?

Responsibilities, I do not know but in any case it gave me a little more confidence in me. I may be asking myself a few less questions, and then mentally ... it's going to be an experience that will serve me I think for this year.

Last season was your first real season in D1, after some matches with Toulouse [in 2013]. Between this first full season and this title to the Euro, do you feel that you have progressed, especially at the game level?

Yes, it's safe, I already have some experience. Play a whole season in D1, to have play time is not the same. I was in U19, so there were a lot of differences. You have to be much more rigorous, much more serious. Placement, you're wrong once, you're late, there's a goal behind while in U19, it was not the same thing. So it's about I think tactically, I've progressed I think.

In an interview, you said that what was so difficult was the passage from the D2 to the D1 [at the time of his transfer from Toulouse to Albi]. Do you feel that this course was passed for you?

Yes. I was lucky enough to have a lot of playing time, so I think now I've made myself to the rhythm. But it's true that at the beginning there was a lot of difference, it was not at all the same game. But meeting big teams, top 4, is more demanding.

So in this team Albi, you are part of "Toulouse" (Laughter) since you are studying in Toulouse [DUT Information-Communication]. How is the day-to-day management of the situation, with the journeys [about an hour between the two cities], the balance of football and studies ...?

(Smiles) Well, it's a bit complicated, we're going to class. After once I finish at 18h. We meet with the girls, we give ourselves a meeting point with the others and then we arrange for the car. We carpool together and it's a bit complicated because in the evening we come back late.

This is especially so. So, we can not work. We go back, we go to eat, we go to sleep. Sometimes we are a little tired, after we make it to the rhythm, throughout the year but it's a little complicated, to work especially, find moments.

So I read in an interview that you gave that for you, to make a career of very high level was not necessarily a goal that you wanted at all costs, after I imagine that with this title in U19 ... (laughter)

... Actually that's not really what I said, I found that they had a little transformed what I said. In fact they asked me, "Are you considering a professional career? And I said that first I wanted to finish my DUT. So that I wanted to do this year while continuing my studies and that after I see if I had opportunities, I will seize them. After that, I can not say if I will have a club that will call me or if I will not have one.

I dunno. For the moment, I just want to finish my DUT and after we'll see, to have a diploma anyway, because we do not know ...

But Laura Condon in the final of the Champions League (Laughter) inevitably makes you want ...

Ah, that's for sure (laughs). Here, as I said, if I have opportunities I will not spit on it. That's right, I said right away because I still have a year left.

There was the Olympics recently, it did not necessarily go well for France. Did you have the opportunity to follow the women's football tournament?

Not too much, because I went on vacation, there was not even TV (laughs) where I was so I was a bit cut off from the world so I followed the results of course, the summaries on the networks social. After the matches, I watched only one or two, I could not see everything. It's a shame they get eliminated in the quarter-finals.

In addition [with the France U19 team], we were in Clairefontaine, we were with them. We attended training sessions. We said to ourselves: "It's going fast! "Compared to us, there is really a big difference so here we hoped they would do better but ... I hope it will be better for the Euro.

We're done with our questions, do you see anything to add?

I hope we'll hang on Barça a bit. It's important that we get confidence before the start of the championship because the first results were not terrible so I hope it will get better, that's it ... I think it's going to be a good test. We will really see, be able to test ourselves, and see what we are worth, where we are in relation to the preparation.

It works. Thank you Laura for your answers.

Photos: Nelson Fatagraf and Sylvain Duchampt