Wednesday evening after the friendly victory against Sochaux (1-0), Thomas Tuchel refused to address the club media, an extremely rare fact. The coach is pissed off, disoriented, annoyed by the latest news which "is negative" in his own words. "It's always like that with the approach of the Champions League," he still laments.
The injury of Marco Verratti, forfeit against Atalanta Bergamo on August 12, barring a miracle, completes his torment. The summer preparation does not correspond to what the coach had imagined. Yet there are grounds for hope. The quarter-final of the Champions League gets complicated but the capital club remains a major candidate for final victory.
The architect Neymar rediscovers the summits. If he has not fully recovered all his athletic volume, Neymar still has the keys to the Parisian game. Against Saint-Etienne and Lyon, the two games that count the most in the six played by Paris between July 12 and August 5, the Brazilian scored the only goal, after a kicked back from Kylian Mbappé.
In the absence of the world champion, injured ankle, number 10 embodies more than ever the danger, the threat and stands out as the architect. A major role that he takes on with relish. Neymar has come to Paris to become number 1 and it is with this outfit that he will appear in Portugal on Wednesday. Now more unifying than dividing within the workforce, Neymar intends to play the heroes.
The group believes in it. Obviously, there is this famous promise, made between players during confinement: to win everything between the final of the Coupe de France and that of the Champions League, in a month for history (July 24 - August 23). This pact has not suffered erosion despite recent hard blows, from Mbappé to Verratti. “We will fight, for sure, we will play the best possible game. We are a strong team, ”Tuchel wanted to be proactive, between two lamentations.
The players, them, remain convinced that their chances have not diminished. That the meeting against Bergamo will be played on freshness and mentality. Despite stopping L 1 and the lack of rhythm, they can compensate for this deficit with better athletic condition. The preparation has been measured in this direction, in order to arrive with good legs in mid-August, in order to run more than the opponent. Mentally, the workforce feels strong, nourished by the overthrow of Dortmund where the Parisians had already returned the negative waves: behind closed doors, absence of supporters, first score (2-1) and absence of Mbappé due to angina rifle.
PSG Express
The essential newsletter for Parisian supportersI'm registering
Your email address is collected by Le Parisien to enable you to receive our news and commercial offers. Learn more
Icardi, Bernat and Kehrer fit, the Mbappé mystery. Victim of a new blow against Lyon after a contusion to the hip against Saint-Etienne on July 24, Thilo Kehrer sees his preparation disrupted. He is training alone again this Thursday before returning to collective training on Saturday. The staff has every reason to think that he will hold his place as a right-back against Atalanta. The thigh overheated in the final of the League Cup, Mauro Icardi also has a series of separate sessions since. Saturday, he will resume collective sessions and his participation is not questioned. Juan Bernat played just 62 minutes against Sochaux, his first since the restart, but he too is expected to start on Wednesday.
In front, in the 4-3-3 that is emerging, everything depends on the state of form of Kylian Mbappé. His case will switch to Faro this weekend where PSG settles for a mini-internship. If the French striker tests himself without pain, he will have a good chance of making his debut at the Luz stadium. If there is any doubt, he will give way to Sarabia.
Very present absences. Before knowing if PSG will one day win the Champions League, its history with the C1 for several years follows the contours of a thwarted scenario. Not a cleaver match without one or more major absences. There has been Neymar in recent years but also Thiago Motta against Barcelona in quarterback in 2013, Ibrahimovic in 2014 still in quarterback (Chelsea) or even Verratti in 2016 in the first leg and back against Manchester City, in quarterback obviously.
On Wednesday, PSG will start without Verratti, affected in the calf, without Di Maria suspended. There remains the uncertainty Mbappé, therefore. With 2 to 3 indisputable holders on the flank, Paris remains in its usual average in the Champions League. For now, that and other concerns - uncertain tactics, coach feverishness - have kept PSG from going beyond the quarterfinal horizon under the QSI era. He still has enough arguments this time around to clear his eyes and offer himself a new world.
