Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini expects all of his players against Paris Saint-Germain will do their part to fight Neymar. The Italians will meet the Parisians on Wednesday evening in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
“Neymar is without a doubt one of the best players in the world, so for us he is of course a problem too. The best way to fight him is to make sure he has to defend sometimes. That would be ideal,” Gasperini said on Tuesday evening. at his press conference for the meeting in Lisbon.
The 28-year-old Neymar played 24 official games this season, scoring nineteen times and providing ten assists. In the Champions League, the PSG star hit three goals in four matches this season.
“We’ve already met a lot of great players in the Champions League and Neymar is one of them. If everyone is watching him a little bit in the game, I’m sure we can be able to fight him.”
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Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini fears for Neymar. (Photo: Pro Shots)
Mbappé expected to be available from PSG
Incidentally, Neymar is not the only star player that Atalanta has to take into account in Estádio da Luz on Wednesday. PSG coach Thomas Tuchel announced that the slightly injured Kylian Mbappé is expected to be available as usual.
Gasperini tries not to worry too much about the large difference in quality between the two teams on paper. “I don’t think that way. I also know that PSG has a lot more resources and that that offers them more possibilities, but we are not concerned with that.”
The showdown between Atalanta and PSG starts on Wednesday at 9 p.m. in Lisbon, where the Champions League will be completed in tournament form this month. All duels up to and including the final are decided on one match.
The other posters in the quarter-finals are RB Leipzig-Atlético Madrid (Thursday), FC Barcelona-Bayern Munich (Friday) and Manchester City-Olympique Lyon (Saturday).
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