“Like a final. “ For Paris-Saint-Germain, the Tarpéienne rock is close to the Capitol. If, in August, the club of the capital aspired to “Do everything to get back to the final”, as midfielder Ander Herrera expressed it after the defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League title match (0-1), the Parisians did not think they had to play a new “final” so quickly .
Tuesday, November 24, the reception of RB Leipzig, in the group stage of the queen competition in Europe (at 9 p.m.), is nevertheless similar to these meetings which “Do not play, but win”, as the expression implies. Back to the wall, third in his group with one victory and two defeats, PSG no longer has the right to make mistakes. “It’s a final”, hammered the coach, Thomas Tuchel, after the defeat of his team in the league in Monaco, Friday, November 20. ” We will prepare it as a final. “
Beaten by the teammates of “Titi” Christopher Nkunku – trained in Paris – in the first leg in Germany (2-1), Kylian Mbappé’s teammates have no choice but to win. Under penalty of reconnecting with the “November crisis”, theorized at the turn of the 2000s, regularly encountered since, but evaporated since the takeover of the club by the Qatari fund Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), in 2011.
Perilous second periods
The threat looms, especially as Paris has the unfortunate tendency, this fall, to repeat the two-faced games. As in Leipzig, where they opened the scoring – and missed a penalty – the Bleu et Rouge started the game against Monaco in the best possible way, leading 2-0… before collapsing in a second half “Inadmissible” and “Catastrophic”, in the words of international defender Presnel Kimpembe.
A waste of resources “Really hard to explain”, recognized the Parisian captain, Marquinhos, Monday, in a press conference. “Against Leipzig, we should not do as in Monaco or on the way there. You will have to stay focused from start to finish. ”
Refusing to be worried, Thomas Tuchel, whom a defeat on Tuesday would place in the hot seat, insisted on the responsibility of his players in their rout in the Principality. “We know what went wrong, that it is our entire responsibility, highlighted the German technician. We lost our focus in the second half, probably because we thought about Leipzig too early. ”
Still leader of the French championship, Paris will have to use the result in Monaco as a reminder: any result other than a victory – preferably, it would even be necessary to aim for a catch-up of 1-2 in the first leg – would highlight jeopardize its European future.
In the Parisian project, the Champions League is the main objective. Since QSI took charge of the club’s destiny, PSG has never failed to get out of the group stages. The capital club are currently third in Group H with three points behind Manchester United and Leipzig (six points each), and tied with Istanbul Basaksehir.
“Quite a course to do, with a lot of obstacles”
“The context will be completely different, it’s another competition”, evacuated Kylian Mbappé Friday, after the meeting at the Louis-II stadium, promising a questioning. And the return of some executives.
Having to deal with a workforce largely undermined by injuries – Mauro Icardi will be forfeited on Tuesday, and Marco Verratti and Ander Herrera uncertain – Thomas Tuchel was forced to do without Mbappé and Neymar in Leipzig. If the Brazilian is not yet 100%, he will be in the game against the Saxons, at the Parc des Princes.
Despite the many absences, until the defeat of Monaco, Paris has chained eight straight wins in Ligue 1, attracting praise from Christophe Galtier, coach of Lille. “Some criticisms of PSG seem crazy to me. We’re tough on them, they’ve been playing for a few weeks with a second team, they perform well despite an incredible absentee list ”, underlined the coach of the current dolphin of PSG, last week.
Tuchel could opt for a resolutely offensive composition, aligning the Mbappé-Neymar-Di Maria-Kean quartet from the outset. “I want to see more courage to score than fear of taking a goal”, said the technician on Monday at a press conference.
If his counterpart from Leipzig, Julian Nagelsmann, hammered that “The pressure is on the Parisians”, Thomas Tuchel remembers that his men are capable of reversing badly started situations. As in March, during the round of 16 second leg of the 2019-2020 edition of the Champions League against Dortmund. Winners 2-0 behind closed doors, Neymar’s partners had drawn on this scenario to fuel their adventure during the final phase of the competition, in Lisbon in August.
“We have the flame to go as far as possible, we know that it is not easy, it is not with a snap of the fingers that we arrive in the final of the Champions League, there is a whole course to do, with a lot of obstacles ”, insisted Marquinhos. Under penalty of falling from above, PSG must win this first “final”.
