Like his team, Neymar delivered a sad game Tuesday night against Leipzig.
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FRANCK FIFE / AFP
Victorious over the Germans (1-0) thanks to a penalty generously awarded by the referee, the Parisians spent most of the match curled up in front of their surface.
Dominated in all areas, PSG even finished the match five behind to ensure victory.
On the ground, however, with the returns of Mbappé and Neymar, this team seemed to have the weapons to offer something else to its supporters.
At the Parc des Princes,
Leaving the press conference room of the Parc des Princes on Tuesday evening to return to the fold to prepare the articles of the day, our ears heard well in spite of themselves a member of the PSG wonder at the contrast between the joy of the Parisian locker room after this vital success against Leipzig, and the general impression left in the gallery to observers.
All the difference is there: that Thomas Tuchel's men rejoice after this courageous victory, synonymous with great hopes of qualifying in the 8th, so far it is rather logical.
But as journalists and observers are sorry for the appalling level of play displayed by players on Tuesday is just as much.
Everything is a question of repository.
As such, we understand Marquinhos when he explains at the microphone of RMC Sport after the meeting that the players are "happy".
They have just passed very close to the point of no return, the one which for the first time in the Qatari era would have seen Paris fail at the gates of the knockout phase.
It was well worth a little war cry.
And too bad for the way.
O Capitão
, always: “The team manages to stick together in difficult times.
There are a lot of things going on, some players have been playing with pain.
We might not have what it took to have an exceptional game, but the most important thing tonight was the three points.
"
Paris on the defensive for 90 minutes
This is all true.
By going to snatch this victory in difficulty, Paris avoided an internal revolution and a scarlet-red crisis, while offering itself the luxury of now having its destiny in hand in the European Cup.
But damn it, it was hard.
Already not very dashing from the start of the match, the Parisians reserved the worst for us after Neymar's opening score from the penalty spot.
Entrenched in front of their penalty area for 90 minutes, Thomas Tuchel's men gave the impression of not knowing what to do when, by a miracle, they found themselves with the ball in their feet.
The tactics?
Nine behind and we send bags in front, praying that Neymar and Mbappé make the difference.
Without doubt QSI's worst game at the Parc in C1.
You have 7 minutes of Verratti, a very lenient arbitration and then you can throw the rest in the trash.
And this offensive trio ... what a disaster.
- Mathieu Faure (@matfaure) November 24, 2020
Paris has suffered like never before at the Parc des Princes in the Champions League since the arrival of QSI at its head.
8 shots against 15, 38% possession of the ball, 4 poor crosses against 17, 391 passes on one side, 618 on the other… Do not look, there was not a single stat 'to the advantage Red and Blue Tuesday.
But more than the numbers, it is the general impression left by this PSG that has something to shiver its supporters.
How far are the days when Thomas Tuchel, still smiling at the time, insisted on the fact that a team like Paris, in a city like Paris, had to play champagne football…
"They just stayed behind"
For his part, the German has not changed his speech.
“We needed a victory and we had a victory”, he explained, pragmatically.
Thomas Tuchel prefers to keep the positive and emphasize “the heart, solidarity, hunger” displayed by his players.
For him, if his team played at this point entrenched on his goal in a fetal position, it is because "it is the match that wanted that, we simply answered it".
"We are in a difficult situation but we can always count on our solidarity," he continued.
I know very well that we expect more from PSG, but if we look seriously at the situation in which we play… We can play better, yes, but sometimes we have to accept that it is impossible.
Maybe it's possible, maybe it's me who can't.
"
Jean-Clauide Blanc, Nasser Al-Khelaïfi and Leonardo were present at the Park on Tuesday evening.
- FRANCK FIFE / AFP
A few minutes earlier in the auditorium of the Park, his counterpart Julian Nagelsmann could not get over leaving Paris without a single item in the hold.
“Paris looked for the counter-attacks, they just stayed behind.
We were the best team, we had a lot of chances.
We would have deserved a point but football is a sport of results and in the end it is Paris which wins… ”Relaunched on the level of play and the Parisian strategy of the evening, he did not want to push his compatriot Thomas Tuchel.
“Paris really retreated after their goal.
Thomas knew we had to score and he chose to push his team back.
It was legitimate to play on the counterattack, he conceded.
And then we also forced them to play so low in front of their surface, and I don't think it's only Tuchel's fault that PSG played that way.
Anyway, the objective is not so much to point out culprits as to understand how this team can have lost its football so much.
And there, to be honest, we block.
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