PSG coach Olivier Echouafni lost the UEFA Women’s Champions League semifinal to Lyon 1-0 on Wednesday. He also lost our respect after being seen groping French player Sandy Baltimore.
A former player who spent 16 years playing in Ligue 1, Echouafni managed the French national team briefly before taking over PSG Féminine in 2018. He’s had moderate success, but it’s hard to do anything notable when juggernaut Lyon is in your league.
Echouafni subbed Sandy Baltimore out in the 81st minute. Baltimore had been brought on in the 54th minute and did not appear happy to be taken off after less than 30 minutes.
That gave no excuse to how Echouafni grabbed her as she walked off the pitch.
Yeah this is not how a coach touches a player. pic.twitter.com/0vvtJimjnc
— Seoul Train (@BlasianSays) August 26, 2020
As Baltimore tried to walk away, Echouafni put his right arm around her shoulder and his left around her upper body. He appears to move his arm down after initially landing across her breasts but doesn’t move very far down her body and continues to hold her extremely tightly.
There’s no reason to touch any player so intimately, let alone a male coach doing this to a female player.
This isn’t the first time a PSG coach has done something shocking to a woman. Former PSG coach Farid Benstiti once told Lindsey Horan she needed to lose weight, among other things. For some reason, OL Reign signed him as coach in January.
As for the match itself, Wendie Renard ended Echouafni’s hopes of winning the Champions Leagues with a towering header in the 67th minute.
Wendie Renard puts @OLfeminin ahead!
The flying header finally breaks the deadlock here in the semifinal. pic.twitter.com/vd4MtcRUjt— Champions League on CBS Sports (@UCLonCBSSports) August 26, 2020
Lyon will go for its fifth straight Champions League title against Wolfsburg on Sunday.
