On the sidelines of his preparation match in Nîmes, we met Sara Yuceil, one of the summer rookies of Olympique de Marseille. Presented as a "crush" of the Olympian staff, we wanted to meet Sara who arrives from the Standard Liege and already takes its marks within the Marseille midfielder.

Soccer Hearts: Hello Sara

Sara Yuceil: Hello

CDF: So the public Marseille now knows a little bit, the French public not at all. So maybe if you could present in two / three words, your course ...

S.Y: Yes. Why does the French public do not know me? Because I have played in Belgium all my life, my whole career since I was five. I played in a village club called the Stade Brennois, and after I transferred to Brussels, the White Star [ed .: FCF White Star Woluwé] and Leuven [OH Leuven (Leuven)], that you probably do not know and then I was at Standard Liege for two years. And there, it allowed me to access the Belgian national team, it opened the door a little for me and it was great, two great seasons and that's it ...

CDF: It should be noted that the Standard Liege is the best team in Belgium currently ...

S.Y: Yes, it's been six consecutive years that we are champions and we are champions of the last BeNe League, it was the championship between the Netherlands and Belgium. And so we won that, it was a great experience. And here, this season I wanted to try my luck elsewhere and discover a little another championship and the French championship is super famous.

CDF: How was the meeting with Olympique de Marseille?

SY: I knew Bret, Sandrine Bretigny, by Janice Cayman, another Belgian who was playing Juvisy and when I saw that OM was going up in Ligue 1, I thought, "Come on, I'm going to contact Bret ", and it was a little like that, I came to test, and there the contact went well. I think the test went well, I think ... and that's how it was done.

CDF: So, you have not discovered the competition yet, since we are still preparing. What differences do you feel between your own experience in Belgium and the way it can play in France?

SY: For the moment, it's a little complicated to move on this because it's been a month that I'm here, and here it's only friendlies but I already feel that it's much more athletic. It's very athletic and it's very good, I feel that in a month I have evolved pretty well physically. Afterwards at the tactical level, there are also some differences and also I feel that in a month I already learned a lot from the tactical point of view. Which is great too. After going to say concretely what is different or not, that I think it takes a little more time and experience in the French championship.

CDF: You play in the midfield, and so especially your two teammates in the middle is Caroline Pizzala and Nora Coton-Pelagie, who have a lot of automatisms. How do you fit in there? I guess it has to be easier ...

S.Y: Actually, it's easy to play with them. They are great players, they communicate well and as they already have automatisms, it's not complicated to add to that because they already have it and they talk a lot, they communicate a lot and that's it it will take time I have not yet acquired as many automatisms as two. If I keep playing in the middle with them, it's going to be a great learning too because they have a lot of experience and that feels.

CDF: In the midfield, we also see that there is a logic in the way of playing, to press very high, a lot of races forward to annoy the opponent, to get the ball, is this a record in which you used to play?

S.Y: No, that's something I'm trying to adapt, because it's the game system from here. But it's true that in Belgium, I have not been used to playing exactly like that. We were playing with a 10, rather than two 10. So yes, I pressed high, but there were always two players behind, it was the triangle with a tip up rather than pointing down [Midfield , Sara Yuceil and Nora Coton-Pelagie evolve ahead of Caroline Pizzala, although the organization can evolve during the match]. And so that already, it changes but that's it, it's an adaptation and I'm very happy to learn something new and add to my game and my experience.

CDF: So even if you have contacted OM, we see that there are some Belgian players now who go abroad. You quoted Janice Cayman, there is Tessa Wullaert also who is in Wolfsburg. Belgium is not very far from qualifying for the next Euro 2017. Do you have the impression that there is a progression of Belgian football that your arrival in Marseille would be part of?

SY: Yes I think we are all ... all the players selected, really the big group of the national team not just the 18 who play the games but about thirty players, even more, who are involved in this. for two years. We are in a wave, we want to get there as a team but each individually wants to push himself to get there, mark the Belgian history because it would be history if we qualify, it will be the first time.

And I think yes, we are all a little bit in this wave of evolution and we want to look further. And that's it I think coming to Marseille, what I saw for the moment with the players, the staff and everything that happens, it's perfect for me. The team is superb, and I think I really have a good chance of evolving well here.