PSG get in good shape before the final against Saint-Etienne

Let's not be afraid to start with a good old cliché of families after this final victory for PSG on Friday against Celtic at the Parc des Princes: given the current context, with a premature end to Ligue 1, a long forced vacation like a tirade by Edouard Baer and a sudden recovery with two very important matches in the Parisian season, PSG could not better prepare for its two coming cup finals. But only the truth of the field, of the compet (the real one), will tell us if we were right. Nevertheless, the results of Thomas Tuchel's men could hardly have been more positive.

The German seemed in any case satisfied after the 4-0 success of his players against the Scots several notches above Le Havre or Beveren, which the Parisians have atomized in quick succession (9-0, 7-0) a few days earlier. "I'm happy, we did some serious things, with no conceded goals and four goals scored," Tuchel said at a press conference after the match. It was the last phase of the preparation against a very strong team, against whom it is not easy to play. By giving 45 minutes to all the players, we prepared in the best possible way. I am happy. "That makes the word" happy "twice, that's a good sign, isn't it?

On paper, a united and (very) motivated group

The group is living well, that's a fact. This is also the feeling that emerges from the whole group. Happy to find the field, happy to frolic, happy to be together. Happy, what. It's also the feeling that we have watching the workforce live, both on and off the pitch, since the end of deconfinement. We will not earn our stripes on this idea, but following the lives of PSG players on social networks in recent weeks makes us say that something is happening in this group, that he seems to have realized that he has a lot to gain in a very short time.

Paris is magic🗼 pic.twitter.com/8rWuoqbXIz

Well, friends, photos on a barge, love messages on Instagram, it's all very well but, sportingly, what is the value of this PSG version 2019-2020-2021 (yeah, we get lost a bit) ? It is rather very reassuring. We could imagine that the players had not spent all the confinement slumped on the sofa emptying the fridge and bleeding all of Netflix, but the questions about their physical freshness were there. It is clear that they quickly swept them away.

Neymar-Mbappé, the slab of great days

Well in legs, thoroughly on each ball like a Neymar not stingy with efforts to go crunching the heels of the opponents with each loss of ball, the Parisians have something to make their coach smile. The Neymar-Di Maria-Mbappé trio is still just as much with its eyes closed and Icardi, although a notch below in these three games, has not lost his science of placing in front of goals.

The icing on the cake, PSG has not lost anyone to injury, which almost looks like an achievement when you know the Parisian scoumoune on this point before each big meeting. "The objective was to arrive without injuries, with fresh legs and head," said Tuchel at the end of the match. Mission accomplished.

Thomas Tuchel confirms Juan Bernat's package for Friday against Saint-Etienne: "I hope things will go for Lyon, and that he can train with us tomorrow or the day after tomorrow" #PSGCEL

What can we find fault with then? That the defense had nothing to do during these three games and that it is not necessarily the top before a Coupe de France final against a team like Saint-Etienne. That Bernat has still not resumed collective training and that Mitchel Bakker, tenured on the left during the three friendlies, seems too light for the moment for the high level.

However, according to Tuchel, he could well start in this position instead of Kurzawa on Friday: “He [Bakker] has the advantage of not having been injured, he has a physical advantage. Layvin missed a few practices with a back injury. It's a lot during the preparation… ”.

But we are hurting the flies and this question is just a detail next to everything that has worked well in recent weeks in the team. On arrival, we see it, the signals are green and PSG seems to have done everything it takes to be at the rendezvous of this season like no other. First response Friday, at the stroke of midnight at the latest.

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• Thomas tuchel
• French Cup
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