Paris Saint-Germain will face Real Madrid in the Champions League round of 16 first leg on Tuesday at 9 p.m. at the Parc des Princes. A match between two football giants where the great players could sublimate themselves, estimated Tuesday on franceinfo Bixente Lizarazu, the football consultant for franceinfo.
franceinfo: two teams which are at the top of their respective championship and yet, which do not necessarily approach this first shock of the season in the best possible way. Who will be favourite?
Bixente Lizarazu: There is no favorite in this match, there is home advantage for Paris, the advantage of a European Cup atmosphere. The supporters are waiting for this and it can help. We can sublimate ourselves in a home game. This is what can help Paris Saint-Germain.
It is sometimes said that Paris Saint-Germain only pull out all the stops when necessary, that is to say during gala, prestige, Champions League matches and that they are a bit lazy the rest of the time, is it true?
It is not false. This is often the case for all the big teams and especially the teams that dominate their championship. Paris dominate their championship and it’s true that they tend to win 70-80% of their potential. And in general, in Champions League matches, they sublimate. Great players sublimate themselves in great matches. I’m not saying that they manage their efforts or that they choose their matches, but the Champions League makes them dream more than the championship. Paris is a team that often performs better when there are big games and high-level opponents. It’s the ego that also plays a lot on it.
“They want to be there, so I think they will be better than a lot of games we have seen this season or even if they are first in the French championship, we have never seen a team completely dominating, totally at ease and in control of her subject.”
Bixente Lizarazuat franceinfo
We often focus on the attackers, PSG side, Kylian Mbappé this evening, Madrid side, Karim Benzema who a priori should return after an injury. When you love football like you, Bixente, you’re already in your little shoes when you’re waiting for that…
The Champions League makes us dream a little more than certain matches in the French championship. That’s for sure. So we are waiting for this match because there are great players on the pitch, because there is Neymar, because there is Benzema, because there is Messi, because there is Modric . On the Paris side, there is also Marquinhos, Verratti. We have great goalkeepers with Courtois, with Dona Roma, so that’s the cream of world football and we expect a lot from these matches, so it’s normal that we’re all quite excited.
There will also be a novelty on the rules side. This time it’s the end of the away goals rule. Goals that counted double in the event of an aggregate tie, replaced by extra time and penalty shootouts now. That’s a little page that turns. Do you know how many you’ve won and lost matches like that in your career?
Full, extra time and penalties, there have always been, but this rule of the goal outside which was worth double which changes. Me, it’s all my time, so I take a shot behind the head. We don’t really like this change because it feels like something is being moved. But hey, at the moment, football is being shaken up from all sides. There are things which are, I find, much more serious, in particular the loss of the identity of certain clubs or clubs which are in great difficulty today. I think of Bordeaux, I think of Saint-Etienne, I think of these pension funds which buy these clubs. I’m thinking of words like threading, which resemble stock market words where we buy and sell players. There are plenty of things in football today that personally irritate me.