• PSG won their first Champions League match on Tuesday night against a very pale Juventus team.

  • The Parisians offered two faces: a very accomplished first period and a less flamboyant second act, where his old demons sometimes seemed to return.

  • But this painful victory pleased Galtier, who knows that building a collective state of mind also involves this kind of complicated match.

At the Parc des Princes,

It was well worth it to drown you in recent days talking about the first big European test for PSG, to end up with an opposition from Turin at the mid-level of the Ligue 1 table, and still we are nice.

Because if Massimiliano Allegri's men finally regained some momentum in the second half, after having taken the broth throughout the first half, they owe it in large part to the Parisians, guilty of not having been able to kill the match when the Old Lady was only waiting for one thing, to be pushed once and for all into the nettles.



But Mbappé sinned by pride by forgetting to serve his friend Neymar, ideally placed at the far post at the very beginning of the second period, for what was to be the goal of the K.-O.

“Finally, Juve comes back to the score, summarized Christophe Galtier in a press conference after the match.

We always know the importance of the third goal.

If it's for you, the match looks bent.

When it's the adversary, it gives hope”.

The spirit of Bernabéu (quickly) hovered over the Park

It was at this precise moment, when newcomer McKennie closed the gap with a header from a corner, that it was feared that the old Parisian demons would once again haunt minds still scarred by the melodrama of the Bernabéu last season. .

Indeed, in the wake of the 2-1, we felt a PSG suddenly less sure of himself, less assured passes, missed controls, and it was necessary for Gianluigi Donnarumma to come out with a few class parades to avoid a return of the Turinese.

In the end, this slump was short-lived and, overall, without being brilliant, Paris was able to be combative and supportive.

What did not fail to greet "Galette" after the meeting.

“I saw that my counterpart had changed organization, he had put a little more athletic value, more presence.

So it gives a slightly more difficult second period where we created situations but we also conceded chances and it took a lot of courage and self-sacrifice from the defenders not to concede the second goal, ”he said. he noted.

Last season, in such circumstances, it was a match scenario that Paris could have taken in the face to liquefy and finally concede a draw.

In the mixed zone, Marquinhos agreed with us: “You have to know how to take advantage of the good times and stay strong in the difficult times, that's what we were able to do tonight.

On other occasions, in these difficult moments, we conceded goals.

»

Overcome the weight of history to move forward

Well aware of having recovered a team psychologically marked by years of loss and scoumoune on the European scene, the former Lille coach sees in this match a positive step in the construction of his collective.

“Someone told me in the locker room that it is very difficult to change history.

Whether we like it or not, there is always somewhere in the air this fear that fate is hounding us, he confided.

Winning in suffering, fighting until the end, allows the team to grow”.


I'm probably against the current but I'm not far from seeing 1 ideal evening there: the victory which is capital for the future, strong points which worked, visible weak points & are axes of work, no injuries & answers on some players #PSGJUV

— Philippe Goguet (@pgoguet) September 6, 2022

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To be more of a killer when the opportunity arises, to know how to manage weak times better and to hunker down, to defend as a whole, at least the lines of work are known for this Paris Saint-Germain which, basically, has more reasons for satisfaction to come out of this match against Juve as problems to solve.

The Verratti-Vitinha doublet once again sublimated the PSG midfielder, the Nuno Mendes-Hakimi piston duo, without being flamboyant, brought variety to the Parisian attacks, and the front trio, despite a Messi a notch below, has shown he is ready to smash everything this season on the European front.

And as the agreement seems to be total between Galtier and his group, as evidenced by the praise of Marco Verrati on Italian TV on Tuesday evening – “training this team is difficult.

Galtier has done a very good job so far, he's a smart manager” – one would tend to say that Paris is on the right path.

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  • Sport

  • Soccer

  • Paris-Saint-Germain (PSG)

  • Champions League

  • Juventus Torino

  • Christophe Galtier