Last week, we interviewed five former PSG players to find out if, in their eyes, Bayern Munich were really favorites in this Champions League quarter-final.
After the success (3-2) of the Parisians on the snow-covered lawn of the reigning European champions, Alain Giresse, Jean-Marc Pilorget, Jérôme Alonzo, Didier Domi and Jérôme Rothen have played again to answer this time to the question: are PSG really favorite to qualify this Tuesday evening, at the end of the return match (9 p.m., RMC Sports 1)?
"There are few teams capable of stopping the Parisian attackers"
Alain Giresse, former PSG coach (1998), Radio France consultant
" Yes.
So I was not mistaken last week when I said that the possibility of a result existed
(Laughs).
This time, we will have to ensure.
The game has to be a bit similar.
Not that PSG chose not to have the ball and to suffer against Bayern.
But there are few teams capable of stopping Parisian attackers in fast offensive situations.
A domination of Bayern puts PSG in good conditions to express themselves and punish them against.
For Paris, it is useless to play the game or to press excessively.
The attackers will be difficult to stop.
All the players want space, but they want more ”.
🔙📺🏆
Feedback on the victory in the first leg 🆚 Bayern Munich (2-3) 👊 pic.twitter.com/ViX6gocB92
- Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_inside) April 12, 2021
"We still have a small safety margin"
Jean-Marc Pilorget, former PSG defender (1975-1989)
“Yes, PSG still took a step.
I'm not going to say a big one because I'm always wary of teams like Bayern, able to be very rigorous at key moments.
Honestly, we still have a small margin of safety.
We will have to get into this match, without being wait-and-see, show immediately that the players want to qualify.
Even without having the ball, it will be necessary to show control of the match, the opponent, the time… It will be really necessary to be intelligent.
Bayern have nothing more to lose, but I know that this team will not leave the flower to the gun.
They have this intelligent culture of management.
You have to be careful, but now if you're not optimistic after a 3-2 away, you never are.
"
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"This journey is like an epic"
Jérôme Alonzo, former PSG goalkeeper (2001-2008), consultant La Chaîne L'Équipe
“I'm only passionate and follower but I feel uplifted and galvanized by their performance of the first leg.
They gave us that feeling and it's great.
Often, we could not identify with them and, there, it is quite the opposite.
It looked a bit like the football of the past, an unreal picture with this fight under the snow in Munich, stars who put on the blue heat ... We all wondered: do they have guts?
Well yes !
This journey is like an epic.
It's only a quarter and I have the impression that they have taken the hearts of many French people.
I can imagine the same match, it will be necessary to rely on a big defense and a big Navas to extinguish their first hopes.
Afterwards, watch out for this easy reading.
We had promised hell against Barça and that did not happen at all.
I'm expecting a complicated match but we saw that PSG had been able to identify the weaknesses ”.
Keylor Navas after having saved a penalty from Messi, in the round of 16 second leg of the competition.
(LP / A. Journois)
"Navas will not be able to perform miracles all the time"
Didier Domi, ex-left side of PSG (1991-1998, 2001-2004), consultant BeIN Sports Mena
“No, even if my heart is for Paris, Bayern are still favorites for me.
Simply because they had so many chances to go ... They are capable of creating danger anywhere, anyhow.
Without Lewandowski, without Gnabry ... Where we really have to improve is in the middle of the field.
I found Di Maria and Draxler sometimes very absent from the replacement.
In the Champions League it is not forgiving.
Because when Bayern starts to spin the ball right, left ... Kimmich is going to have a lot of crosses and Navas won't be able to work miracles all the time.
It will therefore take a lot more volume of play, a lot more intensity in the races on the part of the two eccentric midfielders.
It will be even more important on Tuesday because Bayern will want to be more efficient.
The key is solidarity and the state of mind to go.
And it will be necessary to score a goal, not to enter the field just to defend.
"
"Paris has a psychological ascendancy"
Jérôme Rothen, former PSG midfielder (2004-2010), RMC Sport consultant
“Yes, given the result of the first leg, Paris is the favorite. Afterwards, as we have seen, there can be a lot of situations for Bayern, but we can imagine that Paris will also create chances in this return match. What reassures me is the form of Mbappé, who arrives at the right time. Besides the fact that he scores a lot of goals, physically he is much better than at a certain time. And, defensively, I do not see how Bayern can rectify the situation. If they get it right, they're going to be playing against nature in fact. So for all that I think Paris has a psychological influence. This is the goal of a first leg. Afterwards, the players know it's going to be tough. But if they approach this match in the same way as to go, that is to say with a fear vis-à-vis this Bayern team, I think that all the visionaries will be green for PSG. "
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