The PSG marathon continues. After being held in check on the lawn of Benfica Wednesday evening in the Champions League (1-1), the Parisian club travels to Reims on behalf of the 10th day of Ligue 1, this Saturday evening (9 p.m.). Present at a press conference this Friday, Christophe Galtier first announced that his team would go to the Marne … by bus: “It’s good (smile). We will do it, even if the organizations are tired. It’s close to our house, we’ll be fine in our bus. “Before confirming that he should rotate his team, since Lionel Messi, Nuno Mendes or Renato Sanches will not be able to hold their place this weekend.
Will Hugo Ekitike have his chance this Saturday against Reims, his training club?
CHRISTOPHER GALTIER. Nuno Mendes and Lionel Messi are absent for this game. Leo will resume racing on Sunday. This will allow some players to have more playing time and to have a rotation in the offensive sector. Will Hugo start? There is a reflection, he is our second striker, he is in a stadium he knows well, where he has been successful. There is no need to put more pressure compared to his first tenure. Hugo is a young player who is developing, who has to learn, who is competitive. There is an even greater performance obligation when you play for PSG.
Will the many absences in Reims encourage you to do more turnover?
It’s not the absences in Reims that will change my approach. We know how this team plays, it doesn’t change anything compared to my starting lineup.
How did Gianluigi Donnarumma experience his successful match against Benfica on Wednesday?
Gigio works well, nobody is hermetic to remarks, nobody is insensitive to that. He remained focused on his work, he sought to reinforce his strong points, to eliminate certain weak points. I didn’t see anything different in his preparation, he was satisfied with his performance, like the whole team. He is a young player who is very well framed with all the staff around him to point out when there are mistakes made on a lack of concentration or a tactical error. When he performs well, as was the case against Benfica, we congratulate him and tell him to continue.
Can the absence of Nuno Mendes push you to change the system?
Is there a reflection on the fact that we can have a change of organization? There are always thoughts, nothing is set in stone, we always have to adapt. Kimpembe is not yet ready to join us, there is the absence of Nuno, but it is not the absence of a side that will encourage me to change the system.
What could encourage you to do so when your defense is experiencing some problems, especially in the management of depth?
Depth management is always difficult to manage. A player higher in a line could put more pressure on the ball carrier. The reflection is there also on the players that I have available, some have not played much and who can be a real added value, in this system or in another. The only difficulty with the change of system is that we returned at 6 am from Benfica, we do not have many sessions to work on. What can encourage me to change the system is to have more density and technical relationship in the middle.
What is your view of Carlos Soler’s debut and can he start this Saturday?
He arrived very late, there is always a time to integrate, a time to adapt, benchmarks to find. He hasn’t played much, I watched his games with Spain and at Valencia, he’s a player who plays between the lines, who can play in a midfield three. He can also play higher, a little on the right, and on the left especially, he likes to be on his re-entrant foot. There is a possibility of seeing him play tomorrow.
How do you manage this sequence of meetings with matches to be played every three days?
Since the start of the season, everyone has said that it’s a hellish schedule, even more so when you’re involved in Europe. There is very little recovery time, European matches generate a lot of physical and mental fatigue. We work as best we can, there are a lot of things organized around the team for recovery, prevention work. You are inevitably confronted with fatigue because this sequence is dangerous for the physical state of the players. Psychologically, they wonder if they will be able to go to the World Cup. Everyone is in this thinking. They put a lot of things into their organization for that and we support them in that. They are competitive players who want to play everything. But I repeat, this calendar is insane.
