Maybe it’s the year of Paris Saint-Germain after all.
PSG ended up getting rid of their ferocious Italian nemesis, 2-1, to face Atletico Madrid or RB Leipzig. Perhaps after earning a comeback to waste it, you will feel that fate on the European stage, for once, is in its corner.
From the moment Kylian Mbappé, less than 3 weeks after an ankle injury threatening involvement, reached an hour from the end, tension began to rise. Until then, it was a typical PSG ACTION. I’d missed opportunities. He seemed to run out of ideas. But as Atalanta was tired, the odds still began to flow. First, Marquinhos intervened after a hand from Neymar at the level, then, in the third minute of additional time, replacement Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting launched an Mbappé center to become a very unlikely winner.
Despite all the relief and joy of the end, the PSG will also be aware that this functionality was far from convincing. It simply does not face such opposition at the national level. Atalanta’s dry cleaners, its ordinary offensive approach, can destabilize everyone, but especially groups that are not used to being in a hurry. It was not as dramatic a crisis as Real Madrid’s opposite the Manchester City press in the circular of 16 last Friday, but the PSG was obviously affected.
A series of constant matches created opportunities for Atalanta from the beginning, and as Keylor Navas was forced to make some abrupt stops, the anxiety that both hit PSG in the big instance before reeating almost visibly the club. Given the way he plays, Atalanta is necessarily open in the back, as evidenced by the fact that he had the worst defensive record of all the quarter-finals.
Three times in the first half, Neymar found himself behind the defensive line. On each occasion, he inflated his lines, first skewing his wide shot when one opposed one with Marco Sportiello, then betting a strange and comfortable cross to anyone, although he was not helped by Mauro Icardi hiding behind his marker, then cutting wide with a huge hole in the post closest to the goalkeeper. The three were ordinary mistakes; the three provoked a lack of words and surprise glances not only on Neymar’s face but also in the face of his teammates and coach.
With PSG, there is an additional level; His stage is so strange that nothing can be limited to football. Neymar’s annual salary is higher than that of the entire Atalanta team. To him, being so hesitant seemed a symbol of all the psychodrama of the game, of the PSG war with his own memories of failure. And Neymar, as has happened on previous occasions in stress scenarios, began to try to do too much.
Perhaps he had to, given the lack of help he received in the last third, and at least until Mbappé’s presentation, he was through the biggest threat of PSG, but it also meant that he ended up lifting the ball too deeply or Array Atalanta, instead, played with his familiar abandonment. About 26 minutes later, central defender Rafael Toloi was in PSG’s dominance in open play when the ball fell on Mario Pasalic after a pass through Duvan Zapata, and the Croatian fired his shot in the most sensitive corner just inside the area.
With Atalanta running on each and every chance and the 3 forwards of the PSG very reluctant to return, the game is divided into two halves. From the beginning, he had the momentum of the last minutes of a game, with both sides exhausted and one desperately chasing a goal, which meant a lot of time and area for Marten De Roon and Remo Freuler. The best sides, maybe, will blow that up.
In fact, there’s a lot for PSG. But if Mbappé is in a position to start the semi-final and Angel Di Maria (sanctioned) and Marco Verratti (injury) are also available to Thomas Tuchel, he still has apparent speeds to cross. Perhaps the most vital of all, however, he looked into the abyss and, for once, controlled not being dragged towards him.
PSG’s ambitions are limited to the last four, but a first semi-final in 25 years, and the way it has been achieved, will be a cathartic celebration.