PARIS (AP) — Paris Saint-Germain coach Luis Enrique has joked that choosing his team to face Bayern Munich will be like a “lottery.” Because they can finally choose from a full-strength team.
That means midfielder Vicinha could start in the Champions League semi-final first leg in Paris on Wednesday against the six-time champions. He injured his right heel during the match and missed the last two Ligue 1 games. Lost 2-1 to Lyon.
“It will be a draw. Everyone is ready,” coach Luis Enrique said at his pre-match press conference on Tuesday. “But be careful, we need all the players who are fit to play. In that respect, I think we are more than ready.”
With so many players looking for a place, recovering from injury As at the beginning of the season, Luis Enrique faced a new challenge.
“The important thing is to keep everyone calm,” he said.
battle in the middle
Vicinha’s presence alongside Joao Neves and the returning Fabian Ruiz will be crucial in a contest between arguably the two best midfield players in the competition.
Bayern boast the physicality, tactical certainty and smooth passing of Joshua Kimmich, Aleksandar Pavlovic and Leon Goretzka, with goals and assists from right-winger Michael Oliseh and prolific scoring from powerful striker Harry Kane. On the left was Luis Diaz, who scored both goals in Bayern’s 2-1 win against Paris in the league in November.
Holding on to midfield will be key to preventing Bayern from dictating the game like they did in the quarter-finals. vs Real Madridand the last time we played against PSG.
Vicinha is in great form and is on course for his best season, having scored seven goals so far, having scored nine for PSG two seasons ago. He was third in last year’s men’s Ballon d’Or voting.
Defense is the key
PSG are in the semi-finals for the third consecutive year and will face Bayern, who have not lost in any competition since January 24 and have scored 19 goals in their last five games.
Coach Luis Enrique said, “When you have two teams with very good attacks, the key will be defense.” “Defensive statistics are also important and these two teams are the best in Europe in that respect as well. In terms of consistency, Bayern are slightly better than us.”
PSG were left behind against Bayern in November and were frustrated. Luis Enrique criticizes players After that game.
However, when PSG failed to qualify among the top eight teams and advance directly to the last 16, Luis Enrique boldly predicted that his team would perform well in the second half.
In an upbeat mood, he reminded reporters of that.
“There’s no team better than us,” he said. “When we didn’t make the top eight teams in the group stage, I said I couldn’t find a better team than us.” ___
AP Soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
