After a summer preparation period without any false notes, Toulouse suffered its first defeat, on Saturday against Elche (0-4). A real setback. In training since the beginning of the week in the Murcia region, the TFC had planned to finish this sequence with a fourth friendly match (1-1 against Rodez, 2-1 against Real Sociedad and 1-0 against Al-Ain), at a morning hour to avoid as much as possible the strong heat in Spain and to favor a faster return to the Rose City. This may, in part, explain the severe score. Without Yann Gboho or Dayann Methalie, diminished and spared, the club from Haute-Garonne started the match with a slightly remade eleven, offering the opportunity to American Mark McKenzie to play his first minutes since the World Cup. But it was Rasmus Nicolaisen who was the most dangerous in the first place, on a corner (5e). One of the few Toulouse situations in a match without rhythm and one-way traffic, with a well-placed free kick by Cristian Casseres (44e) and a shot by Aron Dönnum deflected into a corner at the end (88e).

A final match at the Stadium against Hamburg Before that, Jens Berthel Askou's players had conceded three times, at the end of a beautiful Spanish combination in the surface improved by German Valera (14e), on a cross shot by Grady Diangana (84e), before a final rapid attack concluded by Fer Nino (90e + 1). The thirty-minute extra period, not officially counted in the result by the Spaniards but agreed between the two clubs, did not allow the scenario to be reversed. The 15th in the Liga last season even added to the score in the last instants (115e). For Toulouse, in training and whose squad should still move, the work will continue in a more familiar context in the coming days. A final pre-season match is scheduled for next Saturday (19:00) against Hamburg at the Stadium.