“A great revenge” but “I didn't have any guarantees”: MHSC's new starting goalkeeper, Dimitry Bertaud definitely wants to get started

Dimitry Bertaud a été préféré à Benjamin Lecomte lors des deux derniers matches. Midi Libre – ALEXANDRE DIMOU

Lors des deux dernières rencontres, Dimitry Bertaud a gardé le but du MHSC. Un choix fort qui devrait être reconduit, dimanche à Reims, et met en lumière le gardien de 26 ans au destin jusque-là contrarié.

How did you feel about this shot from Lamine Camara that hit the post but went in in the 98th minute, Saturday in Monaco (2-1) ?

Disgusted, especially frustrated… Because after the match we played, I think it was undeserved. Unfortunately, that's how it is. There was work, we had to pull out all the stops but you can't stop everything.

🤩 | À la dernière minute Lamine Camara offre la victoire à Monaco ! 🚀🔥#ASMMHSC pic.twitter.com/UR0OigWdQw

— DAZN France (@DAZN_FR) September 28, 2024

Despite this cruel ending, was this the match you needed to assert yourself after being propelled to number one ?

After the one against Auxerre (3-2), Monaco allowed me to develop a little more, to find my bearings a little more. I'm not talking about confidence since I already had that after my matches with the national team in particular. But it was more about finding my bearings with the team, talking a lot with the players. So much the better that it allowed me to put in that performance, a “reference match”. Now we have to continue.

If I manage to be present for the matches, I will see the decisions that the coach will make

How did you find out that you were going to be a starter a week earlier ?

It was the Thursday before the match (played on Sunday). The coach called me in and told me that if he brought me in, it was to tell me that I was going to start against Auxerre. He wanted something to click. And that was it. But I didn't have any guarantee that I was going to finish the season. None of that happened. If I manage to be present in the matches, I will see what decisions the coach will make.

What goes through your head when facing Michel Der Zakarian ?

I am already happy for myself. Afterwards, because I get on well with him, I am disappointed for Benjamin (Lecomte). But that's the world of football, that's how it is. Then, I was already determined, focused to be able to respond present.

How do you explain this choice ?

Frankly, at the start of the season for “Ben”, even though we conceded a lot of goals, he didn't make any big mistakes. It was a whole, it was the team. The choices are the coach's, I'm not going to dwell on them too much (smile).

You mentioned the relationship with Benjamin Lecomte. Did you talk about the situation between you ?

No more than that. But he is there for me as I was for him. Before, during, after the matches, there are little words of encouragement. Then, we talk a little about the actions. This choice has not changed anything in our relationship, because we are two intelligent boys. The fact that he does not play is not my fault, just as the fact that I did not play was not his fault.

Of course, I asked myself questions when (Benjamin Lecomte) arrived, because I knew he was coming with a four-year contract.

Have you lost hope since his arrival in January 2023?

Of course, I asked myself questions when he arrived, because I knew he was coming with a four-year contract. I understand the managers, we don't know how you come back from a big injury. But I couldn't really position myself on the project afterwards.

I did everything I could to get back to my level, maybe even higher. The selection also allowed me to clear my head, to have other goals for my career.

But you considered leaving this summer.

Yes, the club was aware. But there was a difficult transfer window and I am still under contract with Montpellier until June 2025. So staying was also in the plans

In August 2022, there was this serious knee injury, while you were supposed to become No. 1 when Jonas Omlin left. Do you feel a kind of revenge ?

The first thing I told myself when I got injured was that I was going to come back stronger, more determined. The injury happened at a time when I wasn't particularly well in my head. I was a little disturbed by the fact that Jonas was supposed to leave but stayed.

I've been thinking about it for a while, the fact that I don't want to spend my entire career as number 2.

Maybe I wasn't doing what I needed to do to be at the top. If you're not in a good place mentally, your body won't follow. I guess it had to happen to me so that I could work harder and be in a better, more positive frame of mind. It's a nice revenge to find myself in this position, seeing where I come from.

Almost ten years ago, you saw your first match sheet in L1. At 26, you have 30 matches. Do you tell yourself that it's time to really start your career ?

I've been thinking about it for a while, the fact that I don't want to spend my entire career as a number 2. My goal is to play, to have fun, to perform well, to be important to a team. So yes, it's happening to me now.

Objective CAN and World Cup 2026

Dimitry Bertaud is convinced of it. The selection with the Democratic Republic of Congo “gave a boost to (his) career”. The announcement in October 2023 of the first call-up of the one who was a French Espoir could have surprised. “The idea was to be able to grow on a sporting and personal level. Çit allowed me to get a little closer to my origins, to see another kind of football", he said. A year and five caps later, the Castriote has no regrets. Even less after the CAN, finished in 3rd place. “When I go to the selection, I feel great. […] Adventures like this, like the CAN, are things that you want to relive, even if I didn't play.” The opportunity could come. The next CAN in Morocco (December 21, 2025-January 18, 2026) and the 2026 World Cup are in Bertaud's sights, proud to “bring joy to 100 million Congolese”.

This is a question that often comes up with players trained at the club, regardless of the club. But do you feel that you have to prove more than someone who comes from outside??

I think. I've been at the club for 13 years. I've been seen every day since I started. And so, we'll say that Dimitry is Dimitry. If I do good things every day, in the end, it'll become “ordinary”. Whereas if they're new, people will perhaps be a little more surprised, in “wow!” mode. When they are young people, who have been there for a while and are in the professional group, we no longer say “wow!”.

We are part of the walls ?

Exactly. I realize it when I go to the selection. When I arrive in a new group, while I have always been in Montpellier, there are “wows!”. People ask me why I don't play in a club. Obviously I do some things wrong. But when I come back here, there is no such return.

You are also often brought back to your height, 1.80m. Could that have been detrimental to you??

Not detrimental, no. Because I use it as a strength, because I have other qualities than a taller goalie. Then I'm not too keen on that speech, about the fact that we need tall goalies. Because that's not my case, yes. But because I also don't think that a smaller goalie could be less efficient than another. These are other criteria.

But no, I never suffered from that. Montpellier signed me when I was that size and I'm grateful for that.

I've heard that the coach was let go or the club was let go… It's none of those things.

You're moving into goal at a time when the team is having a difficult start to the season. Are you forced to ignore the context, the classification ?

Precisely, since the team is not doing well, we have to be in it to remobilize all that and try to make us all move forward. I am aware of that. And at my level, I do everything to make it better. I try to bring a little more to the state of mind that we are used to having, to talk a lot with the defenders, to bring some guts and to be decisive. It is with this mentality that I joined the team.

You are always considered among the youngsters. How do you experience it ?

It doesn't bother me. Even if I'm not. I've seen players pass through the locker room, I'm the oldest now. But it's always good to think that you're young (laughs).

So, including you, there are a lot of young people who are given responsibilities in this context. How do you take it ?

It depends on each person's character. I like to have responsibilities, to be important in the group. Everyone has to have a bit of that mentality, because that's how we're going to get there. And that's how they're going to succeed, the young ones too, in asserting themselves. Because they're not there to say to themselves: “I'm a youngster, I'm staying nicely on my side”. No, you're there to make your career and you have to give it your all every weekend and even in training. In football, you have to have character, you have to know how to make your place. Because it's a small world, if you don't perform or if you don't respond, there is someone else who will.

This character is one of your strengths?

I have confidence in myself. In everyday life, I am a rather reserved person, who doesn't like to talk too much. On the pitch, it's different.

Despite the setback in Monaco, are you optimistic for the rest of the season ?

The group has realized that we are not in an easy situation. We are not going to let the club die. We have to roll up our sleeves. We know that together we will get there. I have already heard that we have let go of the coach or that we have let go of the club… It is none of those things. We work every day to put the club where it should be. And he must not be in Ligue 2.