Football – Champions League – “I found a family”: the Sarabia renaissance

“He is a high quality player, very intelligent, who will bring us a lot, that’s clear”. When welcoming Pablo Sarabia into his locker room, Ruben Amorim did not think so well. Because the unloved Mauricio Pochettino has regained all its brilliance since he left his suitcases in Lisbon. Loaned by Paris Saint-Germain to Sporting Portugal during the last hours of the summer transfer window, Sarabia apparently could not have been better off. Centerpiece of the Lions since his arrival, the 29-year-old winger is living the dream season: in the race for the title of Portuguese champion, he has just won the League Cup and is preparing to play in the round of 16 first leg. the Champions League against Manchester City.

And a Lions result against Pep Guardiola’s armada will not pass without a great Pablo Sarabia. The one who scored 11 goals and delivered 9 assists to settle permanently in his “new family” has just offered him a new League Cup, defeating Benfica almost single-handedly (2-1). His last game before the European game on Wednesday? The clash with FC Porto where he was again decisive in allowing the Lisbon club to secure a draw. Yes, Pablo Sarabia is full of confidence, just months after being forced to don the costume of undesirable Paris Saint-Germain.

A discomfort at PSG

However, everything had started well for him at PSG. Arrived in 2019 from Sevilla FC in a role of Supersub to make the heyday of Thomas Tuchel, Pablo Sarabia had been much more than just a good pickaxe during his first season in Paris (14 goals, 9 assists). But the departure to Chelsea of ​​the German tactician last winter, coupled with some physical glitches made him lose everything he had built. In need of recognition and playing time under the Pochettino era, the Spanish international did not think long when Paris Saint-Germain offered him to relaunch at Sporting Portugal, in the form of a loan. for the whole season during a crossover with Nuno Mendes.

“I was sure it was the right time, I wasn’t happy with my form and I didn’t have a good feeling with the coach. Now I feel important again”, he explained after the fact, happy with this largely beneficial risk-taking. All the more so when he looks back on his start to the season in Paris: one minute of playing time in Troyes, twenty against Strasbourg then two days without even seeing his name on the score sheet. And let’s not talk about the Champions League, during which the Argentinian tactician simply never lined up during major meetings.

To make matters worse for his past problems, the arrivals of Lionel Messi and Georginio Wijnaldum, who play in more or less similar positions, made his future increasingly vague. “Leaving was the right decision, because I want to have playing time and I know that in Paris it would have been practically impossible. Sporting bet on me, I hope to have a very good season to grow and continue to evolve as a player”.

Le Sporting, “loin du bling-bling”

Sent to Portugal to restart a jammed machine, the least we can say is that Pablo Sarabia did not take long to find his account. “At PSG, there are a lot of stars. At Sporting, I found a family. The mentality is great, we are very far from bling-bling. In Paris, everyone is very good so we can’t all play. Here, the coach talks about the team which is a virtue, everything is done with this mentality. No one stands out from the others”.

An atmosphere that suits him. Installed quite quickly in a role of facilitator, most often alongside Pedro Gonçalves and in support of Paulinho, sometimes even in the position of false n°9, Sarabia connects successful matches. And it is not the Portuguese journalist Nuno Raposo who will say the opposite. “He’s a world-class player, of a different caliber here in the Portuguese league. He quickly became indisputable within the trio he makes up with Pote and Paulinho. Sarabia has integrated perfectly into group life and the city of Lisbon“. For the results that we know.

Sporting’s second top scorer, first in terms of assists, the generosity of Pablo Sarabia allows the Lions to play the leading roles, on all fronts. And if Manchester City will start as the big favorite in their round of 16, the reigning English champions have been warned: “We are going to play our game and try to win by being as strong as possible. We are not going to make it easy for them. That is our objective: to fight for every ball to try to have a chance in the Champions League” . Pablo Sarabia promised it, he wants “to return the affection received by all his club for four months”. In the field.