France - Netherlands: "My best period," how Peyraud-Magnin found balance in the French team's goal

Always so frank, Pauline Peyraud-Magnin admits : she knew Lionel Letizi "by name" but it was after "a quick look on Wikipedia" that the goalkeeper learned the most about her new coach. "My father knew you well," the goalkeeper smiled towards the former French international (4 caps), sitting next to her on this Wednesday in mid-June, at Clairefontaine. "I wasn't aware of your entire career. I was very flattered that he agreed to join us."

Lionel Letizi, with over 500 matches under his belt between Nice, Metz and PSG, joined the French women's team staff in December 2024 , at the request of his friend Laurent Bonadei. With the very specific goal of helping the new coach choose the number one for Les Bleues between Pauline Peyraud-Magnin and Constance Picaud. The decision was made in February: "PPM" is the starting player for the first part of the project until Euro 2025 in Switzerland.

But one thing stood out for Lionel Letizi. "I immediately noticed a gap in image between what I saw during matches and the comments I heard," explains the fifty-year-old. "I thought she was performing well, and I saw some very harsh comebacks. And being around her proved me right."

"Ah, I took a beating," replied the Juventus goalkeeper, who faced the Netherlands this Sunday in a third group match that should allow the French team, with their perfect balance sheet, to validate their ticket to the quarter-finals. "I often think unfairly. But I prefer it to be me rather than others."

Pauline Peyraud-Magnin has never been unanimously popular. She knows it, accepts it. When Hervé Renard takes over as coach of Les Bleues in the spring of 2023, he hesitates and tests Constance Picaud. But "PPM" is a starter at the Australian World Cup. Then at the 2024 Paris Games... until the quarterfinals, where she is once again a substitute. When Laurent Bonadei arrives, it's the same story. Constance Picaud continues, but Peyraud-Magnin ultimately prevails.

A non-linear, sometimes burdensome trajectory. "There's a bit of this imposter syndrome," she says. "I don't have it at all today, but you have this desire to be perfect in every way, and it's not possible. Many times, I questioned my legitimacy. It's something that concerns women in general. You have to fight harder to make yourself heard." Even more so in a position subject to constant comparison with men's football.

"Pauline is 1.75m, Donnarumma is 1.96m and they have to guard the same goal. There's bound to be a difference, there's no point in expecting the same thing," Lionel Letizi reminds us. "We're asked a lot," continues Peyraud-Magnin. "Right foot, left foot, long and short passes... You have to be strong on your line, in the air, get out with your feet, you can't panic, manage depth. We have the most complete position and also the most criticized."

In an impossible quest for perfection, the French goalkeeper has learned to "calm things down," thanks in particular to the advice of Lionel Letizi. "The ideal state of a goalkeeper is to be focused, determined but relaxed. Without that, it's difficult over time," believes the former PSG goalkeeper. "Today, I'm really good," reassures Pauline Peyraud-Magnin. "For the past year or two, I've started to tell myself that I'm playing football, that it's cool... This is my best period."

The oldest member of the French team at 33 years old after the non-caps of Wendie Renard and Eugénie Le Sommer, Pauline Peyraud-Magnin has found her balance. This is the best news for the French team, which is in search of its first major title.