And beer was! Hops sprouted from a higher platform, like an eruption of joy from the supporters above. It was after Erling Haaland’s double. Who ? Erling Haaland. The speaker spoke out three times for the name of the young Norwegian, the new thrill of European football, at his second goal of the evening. The victory for Borussia Dortmund. And therefore the cold spell for Paris-Saint-Germain (PSG), beaten in Germany after having believed, thanks to Neymar, to hold the equalization at the end of the match: 2-1 defeat, Tuesday February 18, for its eighth final leg of the Champions League.
When Thomas Tuchel left the field, he looked straight ahead. Without meeting the gaze or the flags of the gigantic “Südtribune”, in this Westfalenstadion where the German coach of PSG hoped to return victorious, after his two seasons as master of the world (2015-2017). Straight ahead and without deviating from its focal point, it seems, from the return match: PSG will have to win at home against the same opponent, in three weeks, if it wants to avoid another early elimination in the Champions League. The only trophy that actually counts for the sovereign fund of Qatar, owner of the club for nine seasons. The only one who resists him too, disillusion after disillusion. Either from the quarter-finals or the last three seasons, from the eighth…
“We still have 90 minutes to play at the Parc des Princes. And all the possibilities of winning “, according to Tuchel. Perhaps. But surely not if PSG continues to play like this. “Lack of benchmarks” total, to quote a journalist at a press conference. Tuchel, who is trying to speak French, has had the expression repeated to be sure he has understood its meaning.
Tactical experimentation
“Some key players lacked rhythm”, according to the coach, without naming a name. In fact, three days earlier, Neymar watched his teammates toil without him in Amiens (4-4). Rested since his recent rib injury in early February. Response from the striker, just after the defeat in Dortmund, to the RMC Sport microphone: “Unfortunately it was not my choice, it was the choice of the club, of the doctors, it was they who made this decision, which I did not like. “
Many of his years in Dortmund remember the tactical skills of Thomas Tuchel. Tonight, the coach will have destabilized even his own players, in a 3-4-3 almost new this season. Three defenders; four backgrounds; three forwards, in the person of Angel Di Maria, Kylian Mbappé (an assist) and therefore Neymar (a goal, then leveling, in the 75th minute). Very experimental. Especially for such a match.
Tuchel’s note: “We played in this system in Dijon. “ What can work very hard (6-1) in the quarterfinal of the Coupe de France obviously has its limits, six days later, in the eighth finals of the Champions League: between the club of Dijon and that of Dortmund, little almost nothing like it, except their common initial.
Avoid a new exit from the road
Football France is not Europe, just as autumn is not winter, and even less spring. This season, PSG finished top of their group and unbeaten ahead of Real Madrid (3-0 first leg, 2-2 return), Galatasaray and Bruges. All this to, now, begin to doubt. Like a handbrake in the home stretch after accelerating at the start of the race.
Thomas Tuchel had already experienced his first road trip in the round of 16, against Manchester United (and despite this time’s first leg victory). A glass of water, then: “Yes, we lack a little confidence, I have the same impression as you. We played by being too afraid to make a mistake. We lost balloons too easily. ”
Without Meunier or Verratti on the return
Tuesday evening, Mauro Icardi and Edinson Cavani ran a lot. Only during warm-up. Only one replacement during the game: Pablo Sarabia to replace Angel Di Maria. “Now was not the time to take a risk, defends Tuchel, who had taken one with his 3-4-3. It was not a decisive match, it was not a final. ” Before the final, there will already be a most important round of last 16 on March 11. For Paris-Saint-Germain, it will be without its lateral defender, Thomas Meunier, suspended because of a yellow card at the very end of the match in Dortmund.
And especially without Marco Verratti, warned for his challenge of an arbitration decision, one minute from the end. The suspension was all the more regrettable since the midfielder – already his 58th European match, a new club record – remains one of the only Parisians to have shown his advantage across the Rhine. With the supporters of PSG, who were able to make their voices heard, even at half-time. Until a novice named Erling Haaland makes them disillusioned.
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