It’s party night at the Parc des Princes, but in the spirit of 2020: staying serious and keeping your distance even if there will be more than six on the meadow. With a draw, which does not represent a mountain, the capital club can qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League, a case badly embarked on halfway through when he advanced by retreating with a victory and two defeats .
From now on, all is well while two results out of three would propel him to the next round, with even the possibility of finishing first in case of success. Play a qualification at home against the Turkish champion already eliminated, released on one side but demotivated on the other, frankly, we will not make anyone believe that the PSG is found this Tuesday morning at the foot of the wall. Manchester United will have to find much more unique resources: it will be in Leipzig without Anthony Martial and without Edinson Cavani. The goal may be the same, not the difficulty level.
Especially since this PSG is finally better. First, there is Thomas Tuchel’s very cautious speech. Even if there are circumstances, he poses the stakes of a meeting where it is a question of avoiding any bad joke. “It’s a third final and we will prepare the team to win this third consecutive final after Leipzig and Manchester, announces the German coach. I want us to show the same respect for the game and for the opponent as every time. In the Champions League, easy matches do not exist. “
Neymar, the symbol
Then come all of its positive signals. The team seems to have regained strength and breath while the lack of athletic preparation this summer (focused on the Final 8 and not on the season, an understandable choice) will have been the sensitive issue of this first half of the season. The sizes are back in form, like Neymar, decisive in major meetings with three goals in the last two outings, two successes as if by chance.
The Brazilian sums it up better than the others: he is not there to play in the Europa League. Even if he does not appear in the same form, Kylian Mbappé is slowly climbing the slope, probably more impatient to score his 101st goal, which would be the first of the year in C1, than the 100th, offered by Layvin Kurzawa, on Saturday at the Mosson. It just goes to show that pretty gifts, like dirty tricks, don’t always come from those we expect. Not always because this Tuesday evening, of course, there is no other choice: PSG must give Ligue 1 its only qualifier for the knockout stages of the Champions League.
