Without Neymar, without Sergio Ramos, without even certainties in his game for months he has outperformed Ligue 1, without ever impressing either. RC Lens will welcome a PSG with a lot of “without”, Saturday night in Bollaert (9 pm, 17th day of Ligue 1). But who, thanks to his armada and his individual talents, can still be terribly afraid, even in the fifth of the Championship.
If this duel between top-of-the-table teams remains a good new test for Paris, three days after being forced to draw by Nice (0-0), it does not constitute a gala opposition for the Lensois. “If I tell you that it’s a match like any other, you won’t believe me for long,” smiles Franck Haise in front of the media. “When you play PSG, leader with 15 points in advance (over Lens), with the quality of its players that we could all name … It is necessarily a different match, and expected”, is already impatient. Arthesian coach, aware of the task that awaits his players, capable of great things this season but weaned from victories for three days (2 draws, 1 defeat).
Messi on everyone’s lips
Above all, Bollaert presents himself as an extraordinary player, just crowned with his seventh Ballon d’Or. “It’s flattering to play against him. We will share this moment later, assures him the keeper of the Blood and Gold, Jean-Louis Leca. It is not the fact of having played against Messi, perhaps the best player football has known. But it will be good to tell that on a family party night. Even if it remains a privilege to evolve in front of such a player. “
Like Facundo Medina, who had confided in being a fan of his Argentinian compatriot, Gaël Kakuta will also cross paths with one of his idols. But no question of indulging in any complex. “It’s good to see how we’re going to react to PSG and Messi. (…) We are now fifth in the championship. If we are in this place, it is because we play well and practice our football without fear. If we play with fear against PSG, we lose 7-0! “, He confides in an interview with AS in Spain. Not refraining from recalling in passing that, at the start of last season, Paris had broken teeth at Bollaert (1-0 defeat).
