After Celtic Glasgow, Liverpool or Manchester United, PSG will discover a new football cathedral this Tuesday evening (9 pm) in Dortmund, in the knockout stages of the Champions League. The Signal Iduna Park, formerly called Westfalenstadion, its 66,000 seats, its Yellow Wall and its incandescent atmosphere stand on the road to Neymar and its partners.
Stifling for the opponent, the atmosphere there can give wings to BvB players. In 2011, Alou Diarra and Olympique de Marseille managed to overcome this strong pressure to win 3-2 in December 2011 and qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League. The former international tricolor (44 selections) is plunged into his memories to evoke this very special enclosure.
What memory do you keep of the Signal Iduna Park that you had known with OM in 2011 in the Champions League?
ALOU DIARRA. Frankly, it's impossible to forget such an atmosphere. We felt that the Dortmund players were transported by the public, by the stadium, this Yellow Wall. It was truly a great experience. We had a very complicated start to the game and the atmosphere was not unrelated to that. In fact, I can't even describe it to you. It's so heavy for some players. It is obviously in this kind of stadium that we dream of playing. It was really fun. And then this Yellow Wall is really impressive.
Precisely, this Yellow Wall, the largest platform in Europe (24,500 seats reduced to 16,000 in Europe), is it really different?
Ah when you come out of the tunnel, when you arrive in front of this grandstand ... It really has scope, it is impressive by its size. We really understand the dimension of all this, the club, the stadium.
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As a player, did you wait impatiently for the discovery of this stadium?
When you compete in the Champions League, you want to discover this type of atmosphere and atmosphere that you don't know. And that we appreciate once we are in the field.
Especially since you had managed to impose yourself on their lawn ...
It was a crazy game that ended well. Borussia led 2-0 after 30 minutes of play, but we qualified with a late goal that eliminated Dortmund at home. The scenario of the meeting had cooled the stadium and this silence was quite pleasant (smile) . It was a stadium that I liked, impressed and it was a really nice experience.
Can the atmosphere have its importance in this match and disturb the PSG players?
PSG has world class and experienced players. I think they are used to this type of atmosphere and meeting. For a team of this standing, it will be a good atmosphere. I do not think that this is a criterion that can play and destabilize them when being on the lawn. On the other hand if a team which discovers Europe begins with a match in this stadium, yes, that can be very impressive.