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Atalanta-PSG: "Bergamo will be guided by an extra soul", warns Benoît Cauet

2020-07-11T12:26:00.422Z


The former PSG midfielder, who has played six years in Italy, says that the task will not be easy for Paris. Beyond its qualities


One foot in Paris, another in Italy. After a stint at PSG from 1996 to 1997, Benoît Cauet, 51, continued his career on the other side of the Alps in the jersey of Inter Milan, Torino and Como. A course that allows the former midfielder to take a look at the quarter-final of the Champions League which will pit Atalanta Bergamo against PSG.

Atalanta Bergamo, is it really a good draw for PSG?

BENOÎT CAUET. If we stick to paper, it's a good draw since Atalanta does not have the pedigree of a great European. But in reality, it is much less so. It is certainly little known to the general public. But this team has been shaped over the years by coach Gian Piero Gasperini around determination, a sense of sacrifice and an incredible state of mind. She has enormous qualities, she has nothing to lose and has good results. The mistake would be to think that this opponent is inferior and that it will be easy.

What are the qualities of this team?

With players like Papu Gomez, Josep Ilicic or Duvan Zapata, Atalanta has a great attacking power and the ability to put PSG in trouble if he is not attentive. But this team also has an enormous volume of play and a hyper-developed physical structure. She is impressive in her ability to keep moving and repeat the races. Although there are very few Italians in the team ( Editor's note: 5 ) Gasperini has managed to forge him a state of mind specific to the Transalpines. Atalanta is not afraid of anything, never lets go, is very organized and well prepared. Paris will have to be very good and mentally strong not to outwit.

Who is the favorite of this opposition?

If we stick to the fact that Paris is a great team, a great club with great players, it is obviously PSG. Except that PSG will appear in the quarter with two official matches in the legs. Atalanta, she will have played thirteen. We can say what we want, but nothing can replace competition. To have rhythm, to succeed in sequences, to support efforts, to repeat accelerations, high intensity races, it is not in the head that it happens. The physical condition will have its importance and, at this level, Paris will have a handicap.

VIDEO. Champions League, PSG will face Atalanta Bergamo in quarter

This Atalanta team must have some flaws…

She has no experience of these major European events. None of the players in the squad really has a past or a benchmark match in the Champions League. When opposite you have Mbappé the best player in the world, Neymar the second on the planet or Mauro Icardi capable of scoring at any time, it is not the same thing. But is this really a big weak point in a cleaver match where you have nothing to lose?

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Is this part of the table, which does not contain any former winner of the event, a highway to the final?

The other half of the table, which only brings together top matches, seems indeed more complicated. But I'm not sure that the path to the final is clear. In the other quarter, I remind you that there is Atlético de Madrid. He never won, but still played two finals. I am not sure that being on his way is a pleasure. In 8th, there was a priori no photo between Atlético and Liverpool. And yet, it is not the English who are there today.

Can the health disaster, which strongly affected Bergamo, have a role in Italian motivation?

Yes, Atalanta will necessarily be guided by an extra soul. There is a real cohesion, a real union between the club and its city. Bergamo is a city of workers, of people who have sweat on their foreheads, who are not unemployed. The players will fight for them and show that the strength of this city is to know how to get up.

Source: leparis

All sports articles on 2020-07-11

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