While PSG face FB Barcelona in the round of 16 of the Champions League, the Parisians will have to do without Neymar, once again injured.

What accentuates the pressure on the shoulders of Kylian Mbappé, on whom "all eyes will be on", believes former player Christophe Jallet. 

INTERVIEW

The poster promises an electric reunion.

Four years after the famous and traumatic "remountada", Paris SG faces FC Barcelona on Tuesday night at Camp Nou for the first leg of the knockout stages of the Champions League.

While the Parisians, now coached by Mauricio Pochettino, are aiming for the title after their lost final last year, they will however have to do without Angel di Maria, hit in the thigh, and especially without their star Neymar, once again injured .

Without the Brazilian, "all eyes will be on Kylian Mbappé," said Christophe Jallet, consultant and former captain of PSG, invited Tuesday from Europe 1. 

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Despite these absences, "PSG has the weapons to hold on", assures the former side, who however recognizes that Neymar, "one of the best players in the world", and Di Maria, "with his quality of passing, striking, and which is very often present in major meetings ", will" miss "the club of the capital.

Without the two South Americans, "it is collectively that we will have to be stronger," said Christophe Jallet, wishing to find the conquering PSG who had been able to revive during the group stages by winning against Manchester United. 

"Mentally, Mbappé will be present"

But if PSG will need all of its top staff to win, it is obviously on Kylian Mbappé that most of the expectations will rest.

"Everything does not depend on him, but obviously, it will be one of the spearheads, with Kean or Icardi in front, who will be responsible for mistreating this Barcelona defense", explains Christophe Jallet.

"All eyes will be on him, we're going to ask a lot of him."

For the former international, despite this pressure, the striker of the Blues will have to "remain simple in his game".

But Christophe Jallet does not doubt the strength of Mbappé during the matches at stake.

"Mentally, he will be present," he says.

"He's a professional, a competitor, and he's going to want to perform. I have no doubt about his intentions. He's the kind of player capable of sublimating in big meetings."

Jallet sees a draw

Faced with FC Barcelona led by legend Lionel Messi, and while the "remount" of 2017 is still in everyone's mind, it is more generally all PSG players who will have to raise their level of play and show "that they are great players in these matches, "explains Christophe Jallet, who recalls that Barcelona" have shown in recent weeks that they are back at a very high level ". 

Invited to make a prediction, the ex-consultant of the Téléfoot channel announces a draw between the two teams, 1-1, "because the Barcelona at home, it's still solid, especially in the Champions League . But there is a respondent on the Parisian side ".