. Paris must react
Beaten three times in a row in three different competitions, by Marseille (2-1) in the Cup, then by Monaco in L1 (3-1) and Bayern Munich (1-0) in the Champions League, PSG escaped extreme accuracy in four in a row by overthrowing Lille in the last moments a week ago (4-3).
Not enough to jump to the ceiling, but this success has done good for the heads of Paris and the players of Christophe Galtier will present themselves at the Vélodrome, which will beat its historic attendance record on Sunday, a little less dejected and determined to take their revenge.
Opposite, confidence is at its highest but we keep our cool. “If you have Messi, Neymar, Ramos, Marquinhos, Ruiz, Hakimi… No one can be a favorite once morest them,” warned Igor Tudor on Friday.
“Igor has a lot of class and mischief at the same time,” replied Galtier. “Are we favourites? I don’t think so (…) There is the Coupe de France, our current course… To be favourites, we would have had to be in a different dynamic”, assured the Parisian coach.
But ten days before the return match once morest Bayern, Galtier still recognized that the Parisian picture was a little less gloomy. “The end of the game once morest Bayern and the game once morest Lille gave us a lot of hope,” he said.
. Mbappé changes everything
The period of slight revival described by Galtier quite simply corresponds to the return to competition of Kylian Mbappé, absent in Marseille when OM ended their long drought at home once morest the capital club. On Sunday, PSG will certainly have another notable absentee, Neymar, but the presence of the Blues striker poses a much more significant threat to OM.
“We don’t take care of a player. We have our plan, we will make our match. He will play, but we have Sanchez, Malinovskyi …”, relativized Friday the very placid Nuno Tavares, all the more calmer that he will not evolve a priori on the same side as the vice-world champion.
But Tudor, deprived in defense of Samuel Gigot and Chancel Mbemba, knows that with Mbappé Paris plays differently and above all much faster. “It’s clearly an additional danger, especially for its ability to attack spaces,” admitted the Croatian technician.
“We will have to win duels, get out of the Marseille pressure and have races in depth, which we had lacked (in the Cup). With the presence of Kylian, there will be depth”, also confirmed Galtier.
. A title match?
The difficulties of PSG necessarily gave some ideas to his rivals, a little less resigned than usual. Monaco (3rd) is seven lengths and OM (2nd), only five, which would become two in the event of victory on Sunday. “I don’t think the title will be decided on that match, there will be a lot left. But a victory on our part would be welcome,” admitted Galtier.
For his part, Tudor did not get wet but some Marseille players did for him. “We play game by game to win and to watch our goal. We look at the title. We don’t play for theater here,” said Mbemba following Marseille’s victory in Toulouse last weekend.
“We are playing once morest PSG. We are at home. We have to, we have to … Yes, we are thinking regarding the title. We have to,” added the former Porto defender, whose mantra “we have to “has since become the watchword of Marseille supporters on social networks. OM brought down PSG once, they have to believe it once more on Sunday.
