The boss is back to business. To challenge the Danes of Aalborg this Saturday in Cologne (Editor’s note: 3:15 p.m. live on BeINsport) in the semi-finals of the Champions League, PSG has a reinforcement of weight, “the best player of all time” says his accomplice Nedim Remili.
After 7 months of absence and a rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament of the right knee, Nikola Karabatic is recovered exactly in time to conquer his fourth personal Champions League, the first for Paris which has been chasing after for almost 10 years. That he is there, in Cologne, is already a miracle: “When you are the victim of this kind of injury, admits the double Olympic champion, it normally takes between 7 and 9 months to return to competition. When I see that Juan Bernat in football had surgery before me and still has not started again… In addition I had a thrombosis with pulmonary embolism. Not playing again this season for PSG, missing the Olympics was a strong possibility ”
“The most complete player in the world” says Michaël Guigou
But the quadruple world champion is not made of the same wood. He resumed training with the pro group 3 weeks ago and replayed three Starligue matches, just to regain his marks: “With my injury, the Final Four was not really scheduled on the program, says the star of the French sport. To be there after taking out Kiel, the defending champion, is already huge. For me, that’s a bonus. I will do everything, of course, to be as useful as possible to the team. »A simple bonus for the French hand boss? It is obviously much more than that.
No one else in the sticky ball world has their aura, experience, importance and impact both in the locker room and on the pitch. No one either has the record of the one who remains the only player to have won three Champions Leagues in three countries and with three different clubs: Montpellier (2003), Kiel (2007) and Barcelona (2015). Should we add that he has already participated in … 11 semi-finals of this competition, the principle of the Final Four being established since 2010? : “We see the difference as soon as he comes home, summarizes the Parisian right-back, Nedim Remili. In addition to his technical and tactical qualities, it is the will, the desire that he puts into everything he does that is impressive. He puts energy in attack, in defense. He brings us so much. People might not realize how important he is to a group. When he is there, the defenders are afraid and for us, it is inevitably easier ”.
The captain of the Blues, the one with whom he won everything in the France team, obviously does not say anything else: “The question is not so much whether or not he impresses his opponents by his mere presence, especially at this level- there, resumes Michaël Guigou. The question is its effectiveness on both sides of the field. He returns at the right time in a season when Paris has already done very well without him. Niko is obviously an additional strength, an incomparable asset, a major reinforcement for PSG. Nikola is one of the greatest in the history of our sport. He is for me the most complete player in the world. With him, Paris is necessarily stronger. Who can think otherwise? “
“We will have to play hard”
The taulier – even if he is a 37-year-old Golgoth who heals faster than the average person – will not play twice 60 minutes in Cologne: “The idea was especially not to be on a recovery match in Final Four, he said. It was dangerous and unnecessary for the team. I wanted to come back as soon as possible to have a few games in my hands. It was necessary to regain a little rhythm, a little feeling in order to be able to be there. I wouldn’t have the status I had before my injury, but I’m here to help. Of course, it won’t be possible for a whole match, but I hope in periods, in sequences. Once on the pitch, we will have to play hard to put all the chances on our side ”. Michaël Guigou, who knows him so well, has no doubts that the boss is fit for combat: “Knowing indeed his physical capacities and his strength of character and even if he comes out of an operation, I have no doubt that Niko knows that he has returned to a level sufficient to help his team. It will be decisive in a Final Four which is played all the time at three times nothing ”. Guigou knows something about it having won it in 2018 with Montpellier.
After 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2020, PSG returns for the fifth time for the Grand Final in Cologne. Each time, he came home empty-handed. He only passed the obstacle of the semi-final once in 2017 before dropping a goal in the final (24-23) against Skopje from his future coach Raul Gonzalez. “Like last December, thinks Michaël Guigou, Barcelona and Paris are favorites but neither has won. Even if we should find them both in the final, things in this tournament are never written. Aalborg will be a tough opponent and Nantes are not beaten in advance by Barça in the other semi-final. And Nikola Karabatic, what does he say to him who has not won the trophy for 6 years, an eternity when you have such a record? “I don’t know if this edition will finally be the right one,” he replies. We are not favorites. We were for two years, now we are no longer … “
