Dortmund-PSG: "Paris is doing well" says Fabrice Pancrate

In mid-December, Fabrice Pancrate told us that facing Dortmund in the knockout stages of the Champions League was "a good draw" for Paris. This Tuesday evening, after the defeat of PSG in the first leg (2-1), the 39-year-old former striker says he expects a lot more from Parisians. He analyzes the game, theme by theme.

THE SCORE

"When Parisians want to speed up ..."

"Paris is doing well. On the return, the concern will come only if the Parisians do not become aware of the level of the Champions League. I had the feeling that they were in their usual train with the Ligue 1. On certain phases of play, it seemed that they had forgotten that they were in the eighth finals. And Dortmund, on the other hand, played simple, thorough, fair. What is unfortunate is that when the Parisians want to speed up they do it. There they started to heat up the game a bit at the 65th. It's late ! Even with the advantage of the away goal, there is no guarantee of return unless the PSG realizes its potential when it starts to accelerate. If he plays quietly, he will still experience disillusionment. "

THE SYSTEM

"With the four in front, they would have taken waltzes in counter-attacks"

“Tuchel has already played like this ( Editor's note: in 3-4-3 ). Faced with the density of the Dortmund midfielder whom he knows very well, he wanted to reassure himself by solidifying his own. I think it's not worse. If he had put the four in front I imagine what the counterattacks would have given with only Gueye and Verratti in the middle. They would have taken crazy waltzes. "

NEYMAR

"Sometimes he was out of the loop"

"It's good to have preserved him after his rib pain he felt against Montpellier, but I always have in mind what Makelele said when he was with us in Paris: it is the repetition of the matches that gives you the rhythm. And all Neymar that he is, it's been more than two weeks since he played and we felt that physically, sometimes, he was out of touch. "

HAALAND

"With Mbappé, it will be the soap of the years to come"

“From the little we knew about him, I had the image of a goal hunter à la Pipo Inzaghi. But there I saw that he had a much more complete palette! Frankly it amazed me. With Mbappé, it will be the soap of the years to come. "

THIAGO SILVA

"He is more reluctant to go into battle"

“He has the attitude of a central defender who arrives in his thirties: more reluctant to go into battle because we are afraid of being caught up in speed. We try to play it safe and that translates into defending low without throwing ourselves. Facing Haaland is not the best way to defend. Backing up gives him the advantage: he has less effort to make, he gets closer to the goal. "