“We must not let a fly pass. “Since his arrival at PSG last summer, Keylor Navas has applied this motto almost perfectly, transmitted by another goalkeeper at the start of his career. The 33-year-old Costa Rican has not left Real Madrid for any purpose. He is in Paris to win a fourth Champions League, after the three in a row raised from 2016 to 2018. A mission that continues this Wednesday in the quarter-final against Atalanta Bergamo.
On the one hand, there are the statistics: 33 games played, an average goal conceded less than 0.75 per game and a clean sheet 19 times. PSG have the best defense of the eight teams qualified for the final tournament in Lisbon (Portugal), a success to which the fervent goalkeeper is no stranger. “The key could be Keylor Navas with his experience and his personality,” said Thomas Tuchel, on the official PSG website. He is extremely calm, has a lot of experience in this competition. He’s really, really calm and he calms all the other players. “
The German coach touches there a crucial point in the sporting success of Navas, recruitment initiated by Antero Henrique and concluded by Leonardo for 15 million euros: in addition to speaking statistics, his strong and respected personality has changed the game. “Beyond being a good goalkeeper, he arrived with an aura and a track record,” recalls Jérôme Alonzo, former PSG goalkeeper (2001-2008). When you are looking to win the Champions League and you recruit the only one who has won three in a row, even before the first stop, it is reassuring. “
“For ten years, he has been the number one safe bet”
Nicolas Douchez, Salvatore Sirigu, Kevin Trapp, Alphonse Areola, Gianluigi Buffon… All of Keylor Navas’ predecessors looked more like “bets”, more or less successful, Judge Jérôme Alonzo. “For ten years, he has finally been the first safe bet,” confides the consultant for La Chaîne L’Equipe. He brings one of the things you don’t learn at the training center: charisma. He transmits without yelling. For that, it’s the anti-Oliver Kahn (Editor’s note: the former goalkeeper of Bayern Munich and Germany). He brings something soothing and that necessarily reflects on the tranquility of his defense. “
Calm by nature, Keylor Navas is not necessarily silent. Very close to all Hispanophones, like his partner Andrea Salas, he found a second family in Paris. A tribe that he knows how to defend against the slightest injustice. Last February, Navas did not hesitate to raise his voice against Leonardo, in the middle of the locker room, when the sports director criticized the group for the too exposed birthdays of Cavani, Icardi and Di Maria. A landmark episode for the workforce, of which he was one of the leaders.
Captain of PSG during a half-time against Sochaux (1-0) in a friendly, does Navas have any faults? “In the air, it’s not crazy but like many goalkeepers today, cut Jérôme Alonzo. Reading the balloons in depth is a second small drawback. But, and this is paradoxical, he is so sure of his strength that he is able to knowingly refuse to advance too much in order to keep his support and cause a face-to-face with the attacker. And there, it is almost unbeatable thanks, in particular, to extraordinary reflexes. Nine times out of ten, he makes the right decision. The rest is up to man or to God, as this fervent evangelical Christian is convinced.
