We have already seen the Kylian Mbappé jersey wander around Madrid. But only in the form of an improbable disguise including the bewildered face of Homer Simpson. On the square of Puerta del Sol, men are paid to dress and be photographed by tourists. Sometimes in cartoon characters, sometimes in video game heroes. And so, for the occasion, attacking Paris-Saint-Germain (PSG).
More seriously: who should we expect to see on the field of Santiago-Bernabeu stadium, Tuesday, November 26, against Real Madrid, for the penultimate day of the first round of the Champions League? As usual, the PSG should play with three incumbents in attack. But who among Kylian Mbappé, world champion with the Blues, the Brazilian Neymar, the Uruguayan Edinson Cavani, not to mention Argentinian Mauro Icardi and Angel Di Maria?
So many questions, and so many options, for Thomas Tuchel. For a week, the German coach PSG finally has all its workforce. A first this season, after the wounds of each other. He sees a "Big challenge" : try to find a place for everyone, even as a substitute.
Management of "complex" ego
Problem of rich, with regard to all these individualities, all these investments. The transfer of Neymar, in the summer of 2017, remains to this day the most expensive in the history of football: 222 million euros for the FC Barcelona to separate.
The management of ego? Complex, admits Tuchel, in office since last year. Different from that experienced in Dortmund and, even more so, in Mainz where he previously practiced. On the one hand, it is necessary that "Everyone, really everyone thinks for the team". The other : "But, honestly, if you're a great player, you're still thinking about yourself. (…) It's normal, it's human, and it's also something that can energize the team. "
Declaration held on November 22, after the victory (2-0) on Lille in the league. The scorers of the evening: Icardi, then Di Maria. At the beginning of September, at the very end of the transfer window, the first named signed a one-year loan in Paris with an option to buy. Since then, the former captain of Inter Milan has pushed on the bench Cavani, top scorer in the history of Paris.
Against Lille, Mbappé also began replacing. The young man was recovering from a flu. He replaced after the hour Neymar game, himself returned from his injury to a thigh. The Brazilian left the field under whistles.
Three days earlier, he was dispersing in Madrid (already) … for tennis. The footballer attended in the middle of the week the new version of the Davis Cup, competition passed under the control of Gerard Pique, his former teammate Barça. "What can I do? … I'm not his dad, I'm not the police," reacted Tuchel, who is a good coach. A tactician able to adapt.
In the first leg, in September, Paris had caught the Real without Neymar (suspended), neither Mbappé (injured on one thigh) nor Cavani (a painful hip): 3-0 victory, with a doubled Di Maria, in opening of Group A of the Champions League.
"Competition creates this great desire to play"
That substitutes design "Some hints of bitterness or anger", Denis Troch would find that "Logic". "The competition wants that, it creates this great desire to play", and thus a possible frustration, explains the former assistant coach of PSG (1991-1994, then 1998-1999).
"In many clubs, there is often less turnover, the typical team stays in place and the same ones always play," notes Patrice Loko, who won in 1996 a continental trophy with PSG: the defunct Cup Cup, the "small" European Cup. The former striker remembers the Parisian competition, already more noted in his time than in "Clubs less upscale".
"The players are smart, he continues about the current group. They know that the season is still long, it will be especially late in the season that we will await the Paris-Saint-Germain. Even from mid-season.
With four wins in as many games before moving to Madrid, PSG are already assured, regardless of the holders, to qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League – its last three seasons.
For Denis Troch, the rest of the course in the competition will depend in part on Thomas Tuchel's choices, and especially his ability to divert. "To win something out of the ordinary, you have to take risks. Risks that can also surprise, shock. It is sometimes to act in the absurd, to push things to their peak. "
Will the Parisian coach go so far against Real? One option was mentioned: to re-align four offensive players in a 4-2-3-1 formation, as was already the case in Brest on November 9, against a more modest opponent. " Yes we can "admitted Tuchel. While stating immediately want to preserve " the balance " of the team.
