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Champions League: like PSG, all European leaders are suffering

2020-10-30T06:26:54.305Z


As Thomas Tuchel argued after the lackluster success of PSG in Basaksehir, the clubs engaged this summer in the Champions League are struggling to re


“In Italy, is Juventus in the lead?

No.

In England, Liverpool or Manchester City?

No.

Barcelona or Real Madrid in Spain?

No.

And they were with us in Portugal for the Champions League

(note: in fact, Liverpool was released on 11 March by the Atlético Madrid in 8th finals and Real was eliminated on the lawn of Manchester City in the 8th final return on August 7, just before Final 8)

.

We are first in Ligue 1 and everyone says that, because it's PSG, it's easy.

But no, it's not easy.

"

Wednesday evening in Istanbul, Thomas Tuchel defended his players after the difficult victory over Basaksehir (2-0) by recalling the delicate start to the season of other European leaders.

Kylian Mbappé was the first to publicly evoke this physical and mental fatigue gnawing at players who have cut very little this summer between the period of confinement, the end of the knockout stages of the Champions League, the Final 8 in Lisbon and the resumption almost immediate of the new season.

The Parisian coach is therefore on the same line as his attacking world champion and is not wrong in his observation.

Of the eight teams present in Lisbon, only the Germans from Leipzig and PSG are currently leading their championship.

“Everyone says that, because it's PSG, it's easy.

But no, it's not easy.

We must perhaps accept that it is a performance ”, underlines Tuchel.

Also across the Rhine, the European champions Bayern are currently in second place.

Lyon, semi-finalist of the C1, appears in 6th place in the L1, Manchester City, quarter-finalist in Lisbon, is 13th in the Premier League.

"We ask too much of the players"

In Spain, Atlético de Madrid and Barcelona, ​​eliminated in the quarter-finals, are respectively 5th and 12th in La Liga with two games less.

Real Madrid are second with one more game to play.

For everyone, the difficulty of starting a new cycle of competition is real and benefits teams not used to taking the podium.

The English championship is thus dominated by Everton, that of Spain by Real Sociedad while AC Milan regained the top of Serie A ...

"We ask too much of the players, pleaded last weekend Pep Guardiola manager of Manchester City, echoing the voices of Paris.

We interrupted the season, we resumed the season, we stopped and then we picked up the news with two weeks of vacation.

I ask the maximum from my players, but human beings have their limits.

The corollary of these infernal cadences is, in fact, the wounds.

And at the time of the count, PSG is not alone in seeing its infirmary fill up at high speed.

At City, Gabriel Jesus has been injured in the left thigh for five weeks and Sergio Agüero now suffers from hamstrings.

Barcelona's Coutinho has just injured his biceps femoris in his left thigh and is set to miss a month of competition when Munich's Alphonso Davies' right ankle will sideline him for six to eight weeks.

Diego Costa, Atlético de Madrid striker, still has to treat for an indefinite period a left thigh that has kept him away from the field for nearly three weeks.

A cascade of injuries, very often muscle, which hit almost all the clubs involved in Europe this summer.

And which risks polluting a completely new season due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Perhaps enough to completely reshuffle the cards in European football.

Source: leparis

All sports articles on 2020-10-30

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