“We have everything we need to turn the situation around.
From the final whistle, Marquinhos' speech sets the tone.
"It takes personality, if we do not believe in it, we do not go," asserts the Brazilian, captain courage, scorer Wednesday night after three weeks of absence due to sore adductors.
As against Borussia Dortmund in the round of 16 in 2020, PSG finds itself back to the wall after its setback against Manchester City (1-2) in the semi-final first leg.
There is no time to think about it: from Tuesday, it will be necessary to appear at the Etihad Stadium to try to reverse the situation.
Three factors can change everything.
Regain legs
"I believe in it because we played well in the first half," assures Mauricio Pochettino.
The Argentine coach retains the good passage of his players, not frightened by the City of Pep Guardiola, shy at the start of the match.
More legs, the Parisians, led by the omnipresent Gueye and Di Maria, have long worried Manchester.
So why not do it again?
Physically, they digged in the second period, by dint of chasing a ball confiscated by Kevin De Bruyne and his gang.
But Paris has six days to try to recover energy.
Pochettino's choices this Saturday against Lens in Ligue 1 will be vital.
Read alsoPSG-Manchester City: the late changes of Pochettino are debated
Absent for three weeks, Marquinhos will benefit from additional pace next Tuesday.
Abdou Diallo, preserved against City after two weeks on the flank (calf), can this time lend a hand.
Mbappé and Neymar, who seemed exhausted, would do well to rest for a few days to restart the machine.
The role of the substitutes (Danilo, Herrera, Kean, Draxler, Icardi), little or not used by Pochettino on Wednesday, will be crucial.
A team that must display character
If the physical means are there, the head will follow. For two years, PSG has suffered headwinds in the Champions League, which it has managed to manage each time. We think of this comeback against Dortmund (1-2; 2-0) in a closed park at the start of the health crisis or the resources found in the quarter-finals against Atalanta Bergamo at the end of the game. This season, the Parisians were on the verge of elimination from the group stage? They responded with two successes acquired with solidarity against Leipzig (1-0) and authority at Manchester United (3-1).
Character will also be needed to write history. Because this season, goodbye to the “remoradas”. Since the round of 16, the team in a position to qualify after the first leg has always qualified after the return. If this is repeated once again, the final will oppose Manchester City to Chelsea, who hung Real Madrid (1-1). If only 7% of the teams that lost the first leg at home (2-1) managed to qualify, the absence of a public shakes up all certainties this season. Since the start of the round of 16, there have been 13 away wins over 26 games (against 9 at home and 4 draws). At the Etihad Stadium, Paris could free itself to win as it did in Barcelona (4-1), Munich (3-2) or Manchester, against United (3-1), in phase of groups.