It is no longer football, yet the raison d'être of this event. The Champions League offers the most beautiful posters in the world and this Dortmund-PSG is expected everywhere, not only in France or in Germany, because the world feels that an anthology match can come out of this announced spectacular meeting. We would like to talk only about that, of Jadon Sancho against Neymar, of Erling Haaland against Kylian Mbappé, of Mats Hummels and of Thiago Silva but with PSG there is another dimension, which has become a priority.
As Pep Guardiola, one of the greatest coaches on the planet, theorized, the Champions League wins over emotional management. And in this area, it is possible that PSG is not exactly European champion. For three seasons, his successive eliminations in competition have resulted from a burnout and not from a sporting inferiority. Thomas Tuchel is wrong to think that depressurization does not occur until the return. Against Real Madrid in 2018, Paris led 1-0 against Merengue in difficulty before it scuttled, regardless of the disastrous coaching of Unai Emery.
"It is necessary to remain calm, calm, attentive"
"The Champions League," said Guardiola in 2018, "is also a question of emotional control. Learn to handle difficult times. That's the Champions League. Whichever team you face, these tough times will happen in the 180 minutes. The Catalan, whom Tuchel claims to be, seems to know by heart the springs and the traps of a competition that Paris and its shareholder erected as an absolute priority when arriving in 2011. An initial pressure from which the players have been unable to depart since , which even weigh tons when these tightrope walkers arrive.
Last week, Leonardo invited himself on French television to bring the pressure gauge to zero. "We are not playing life or death for the match against Borussia," explained the sports director. We're playing a soccer game. After, if we win it's good. But if we don't win, we will continue to grow. I think we have to get out of this. And his coach to indicate this Monday the roadmap required in the expected whirlwind of the Yellow Wall, this impressive audience, one of the most fervent in Europe: "It is necessary to remain calm, calm, attentive and intelligent. It won't be too much to chase away the ghosts of the past.