In its copious calendar, Paris SG hopes to digest a distant trip to Israel as well as possible and confirm its good debut in the Champions League at the modest Maccabi Haifa, Wednesday September 14, for the 2nd day of the Champions League.

After dominating Juventus Turin (2-1), PSG arrives as a big favorite on the shores of the Mediterranean, in northern Israel, with its world stars, Neymar, in very good shape, Kylian Mbappé and Lionel Messi.

🔛✈️ Direction 𝗛𝗮𝗶̈𝗳𝗮#MACPSG pic.twitter.com/1zellhENLr

– Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_inside) September 13, 2022

A good opportunity to shine for the stars of PSG

"They have enough qualities to be above the other" opponents of the group, underlines the former French international, Alain Giresse.

"Paris has had a successful start to the season, but they are only judged on the European Cup", continues "Gigi", amazed by the form of the "MNM", in particular "a Neymar as we like to see him, his involvement is remarkable".

"Messi is more a mental, moral aspect, he had not yet experienced a change of club, he has found more serenity", continues the 1984 European champion. 

Eric Rabesandratana, defender of PSG eliminated in Haifa in 1998 with Giresse on the bench (1-1, 2-3) in the Coupe des Coupes, has "no worries" before this match.

"What will make the difference is their involvement, if they arrive as tourists or if they are determined to make the effort to kill the match", continues "Rabé", consultant for France Bleu Paris.

"There is a serious match to be made, but this year they are serious in all matches", continues the former central defender, before adding, with a smirk: "In addition, all lovers of stats will want to shine ..." Beware, however, of "a catchy team, which resisted Benfica for a long time before losing at the end of the match" (2-0), continues "Rabé".

A cut above

On his talent and his current form, a draw and eight victories in all competitions, PSG seems clearly above Maccabi, where we must watch the Surinamese midfielder Tjaronn Chery or the Haitian striker Frantzdy Pierrot, who comes from Guingamp (2019- 2022).

Haifa also has two Frenchmen in its ranks, left-back Pierre Cornud and a central defender trained at PSG, Dylan Batubinsika, who played the first match at Benfica.

Parisian coach Christophe Galtier remains cautious.

His team struggled to beat Brest (1-0) in Ligue 1 on Saturday, after the debauchery of efforts to subdue Juve.

And the intense work continues with a shock in Lyon, Sunday, against an OL which has just lost twice in a row and will be revengeful.

In the rotation, the technician must take into account the package of Presnel Kimpembe, victim of a muscle injury and who will be absent "at least six weeks", according to PSG.

Galtier has not finished regretting the missed arrival of the Slovak Milan Skriniar in the transfer window.

He will still have to recompose his three-man defense by bringing down Danilo Pereira or aligning Nordi Mukiele.

"Danilo is very good, prefers Rabesandratana, I have nothing against Mukiele, but it's a question of experience, Danilo is better equipped to take this position and this responsibility, he has a great game intelligence. "

The Portuguese "has a perfect state of mind, he's a soldier", continues "Rabé". 

רוצים לדעת מניין הצרפתית שלנו?


מעניין באיזה חדר הלבשה יהיו מחר יותר דוברי צרפתית.

אצלנו יהיו 7 💚 pic.twitter.com/6KW13k4YMX

— Maccabi Haifa FC (@mhfootballclub) September 13, 2022

A bad memory

Be careful though, Maccabi Haifa, the first Israeli club to participate in the C1, in 2002, has already mistreated the "big guys", with two prestigious victories at the time: against Olympiakos Piraeus (3-0) with a hat-trick from Yakubu Ayegbeni and especially against Manchester United (3-0).

In 2009, Haifa took no points or scored a single goal in a group with Bayern Munich, Bordeaux and Juventus.

And PSG's last visit to Israel, a little further south, in Tel Aviv, was a success: for Galtier's first official match, the French champion won the Champions Trophy six weeks ago, against Nantes (4 -0).

This Maccabi then remains a bad memory, with the unexpected elimination 24 years ago, in the first round of the Coupe des Coupes, on an own goal by Alain Goma at the last minute.

But this time the PSG is really much stronger.

With AFP

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