Thanks to a final note much more exhilarating than the rest of his evening on Tuesday, Paris gave itself concrete reasons to believe in a qualification on the field of Bayern Munich.
“I think we have to remember the end. We saw that we were able to put them in difficulty.” Hot after the defeat against Bayern Munich in the round of 16 first leg of the Champions League on Tuesday February 14, Kylian Mbappé preferred to see the positive. No question of keeping in mind the face shown by his teammates for more than an hour, supportive but terribly harmless. On March 8, the capital club will have no choice but to catch up, which inevitably leads to a change of plan for Christophe Galtier.
“Yes, the last twenty minutes give hope. If we have the ability to have the same face over an hour or an hour and a quarter, we can hope to qualify”assumed the PSG coach at a press conference. “It’s a double confrontation, tonight there is no eliminated and there is no qualified”added the latter, who hopes to find “freshness” and a workforce less weakened than Tuesday evening. A speech that resonated with Kylian Mbappé: “All together we will be able to do something good if we work well. We are not at all beaten down, we still have every chance of qualifying”.
A slight frustration mingled with the satisfaction of seeing Paris wake up at the end of the match: that of not having seen this team earlier, carried by Kylian Mbappé earlier. The French international, “too fair” according to Christophe Galtier, could only play about thirty minutes off the bench, but was involved in all the good moves: two goals disallowed for offside and a duel lost against Bavarian goalkeeper Yann Sommer. The deal won’t be the same if he’s fully recovered from his hamstring injury. Julian Nagelsmann, Bayern Munich coach, also had to answer three questions about the triple scorer in the World Cup final at a press conference. “PSG with Mbappé is better than without Mbappéhe admitted. But on the return we will have good ideas to counter it and we can hurt them in attack.”
The race against the clock is on
The three weeks between the first leg and the return leg give Paris Saint-Germain time to heal the wounds of its players. On Tuesday, Achraf Hakimi played with thigh discomfort and was released at halftime and “Marquinhos gritted his teeth”, added Galtier. After two months of absence, Presnel Kimpembe was not quite up to speed yet and another part of the players were making a comeback after having been absent four days earlier in the defeat to Monaco (Lionel Messi, Fabian Ruiz…).
The Parisian coach’s idea is to be able to count on all his vital forces again to quickly work on this 4-3-3 system, used in his team’s best period in this first leg and which had been launched during the reception. Marseille in Ligue 1 on October 16 (1-0). The reception of Lille in Ligue 1 on Sunday, the trip to the Classic in Marseille on February 26, the reception of Nantes on March 5… Paris Saint-Germain have three tests left before rubbing shoulders with the Bavarians again, who will not have forgotten those famous twenty minutes that made them waver.