Milan, casting on the bench: who is Christophe Galtier

Christophe Galtier was born in Marseille on 23 August 1966. Today he coaches Al-Duhail, in the past he played as a defender. In his career he wore the shirts of Olympique Marseille, Lille, Toulouse, Angers, Nimes, Marseille again, Monza and Liaoning, retiring in 1999.

WHO IS’

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It was precisely in that year that he began his career on the Om bench as deputy. For ten years he was second in several teams: Aris Thessaloniki, Bastia, Al-Ain, Portsmouth, Sochaux, Olympique Lyon and Saint-Etienne. Here he took over from the sacked Alain Perrin in December 2009 and achieved the goal of avoiding relegation. His rise continued at the club, which managed to secure qualification for Europe and a French League Cup which ended a 32-year abstinence for the Verts. He moves to Lille and in this case too he revives the team. The path is even clearer because in 2019 he finished second and in 2021 he was champion in Ligue 1. He changed to move to Nice, the experience lasted only a year because he was signed by Paris Saint-Germain. He wins the national Super Cup and the championship, too little for a reconfirmation. Last October he replaced Crespo as coach of Al-Duhail in Qatar.

like TRAIN

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Galtier prefers the simultaneous use of two attacking wingers and two attackers, in a sort of 4-4-2 with a clear offensive vocation. A system that brought him great success at Lille and which instead did not take root at PSG. The idea is to line up the players on four lines during possession, in a sort of 2-3-2-3. This solution allows you to resort to a direct construction through the many vertical references in the various areas of the pitch, when the pressing is so high that it prevents exits from below. However, when the team does not control the ball, the classic 4-4-2 arrangement comes naturally with the four-man lines that are compressed to limit the opponent’s phrasing if the first phase of pressure does not lead to immediate recovery. A situation, the latter, which represented somewhat of the weak point of his teams.