Mikkel Hansen, during a PSG C1 match in February 2020. -

Sandor Ujvari / AP / SIPA

After a season of absence in the last four, Paris SG will try to conquer its first title in the Champions League during the "Final Four", epilogue of the 2019/2020 edition, Monday and Tuesday in Cologne (Germany).

To be sacred, it will be necessary to defeat the Barcelona giant on Monday, to offer a final against the Hungarians of Veszprem or the Germans of Kiel.

Three participations in the "Final Four", including a final lost on the gong in 2017 ... Paris may shine in the French championship, the club of the capital has struggled to confirm its level on the European scene.

"We have the opportunity to do it, we know that it is a huge challenge that awaits us, but we are ready," Luka Karabatic told AFP.

For this, it will first be necessary to defeat the legendary club FC Barcelona, ​​nine times winner of the Champions League, a record, the last time in 2015, and which has not lost a match since September 2019 (61 victories of rank) !

@Co_Ultras_Paris ❤️💙 pic.twitter.com/ne8jgdoBJI

- Nedim Remili # 18 (@Nedim_Remili) December 27, 2020

Barcelona clearly favorite

“It will require an exceptional performance from us if we want to be able to beat them.

But I think we are all aware that it is something that we can achieve and of which we have the means, ”analyzes the captain and pivot of PSG.

On paper, the French club Cédric Sorhaindo, Ludovic Fabregas, Dika Mem and Timothey N'Guessan are indeed favorites.

The Barcelona have beaten the Parisians twice last year in the group stages (36-32, 35-32).

In addition, even if this final tournament counts for the 2019/2020 edition, it will indeed be contested with the 2020/2021 squads.

And the Parisian workforce was largely reshuffled in the summer.

Five new players have arrived, five have left for other clubs, such as Rodrigo Corrales and Sander Sagosen, who will also play the “Final Four” but respectively with Veszprem and with Kiel, poster of the second semi-final.

Without Nikola Karabatic nor Sagosen

To this is added the injury in mid-October of Nikola Karabatic, winner of three Champions League with Montpellier (2003), Kiel (2007) and Barcelona (2015), victim of a rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament of the right and distant knee. land about six months.

“In the semi-finals, we play Barcelona, ​​the best team in the world.

If we want to win, we have to beat a second team the next day.

The challenge is the same, it will still be extremely difficult.

It's a Champions League like any other (…) Whatever happens, there will be a lot of intensity, ”promises Luka Karabatic.

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