PARIS: Five years ago, playing Bayern Munich at home would have been a season highlight for most of Paris Saint-Germain’s squad.
Now that PSG has transformed into a team of mega stars, the French league club is the favorite ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League game at the Parc des Princes.
“We need to enjoy this game, because this is one of the first times that I feel we are on an equal foot with Bayern Munich,” PSG midfielder Marco Verratti said. “It’s the result of five years of work.”
In many ways, the Champions League meeting between PSG and Bayern in Group B can be summed up as a clash between Europe’s latest nouveau riche and one of the most famous representatives of Europe’s soccer aristocracy.
PSG, which has been backed by the nearly unlimited funds of Qatar Sports Investments since 2011, craves to be regarded as equals by Europe’s biggest clubs. The French league side has thus made a priority of winning the Champions League in its quest for respectability, but has endured setbacks in the competition so far, the latest one coming last season with a humiliating exit in the round of 16 against Barcelona.
To improve its chances of success, PSG has splashed €400 million to bring in Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, provoking the ire of rivals including Bayern. When the Brazil star joined from Barcelona in a world record €222 million transfer, Bayern CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said the German side would never spend so much on a player, and called for the introduction of a player’s salary cap.
According to PSG Coach Unai Emery, Bayern’s criticism of PSG’s big signings is just the result of his team’s metamorphosis into a serious contender on the European stage.
“If people talk about PSG a lot, it’s because this is one of the best teams in Europe, and in the world,” the former Sevilla coach said Tuesday.
“When I was in Spain, I watched the biggest teams in Europe ... buy the best players. Then I came here, and we made a big step forward to be able to compete with the best. That’s why we have more enemies now. They can see that this team is serious, and that with the players we bought this year and in the previous years, we have made a step forward to win the Champions League.”
Bayern and PSG have won their opening games in Group B and will be meeting for the first time in 17 years. Bayern has been quite unimpressive in the German league so far, while PSG has been bothered by a dressing room clash between Edinson Cavani and Neymar after the pair argued over who should take a penalty during a French league match. Emery did not say which one of the two would take penalties if needed against Bayern.
The game will also mark the return to Paris of Carlo Ancelotti, who coached PSG between 2011 and 2013, winning the French league title before he left.
“Five years ago, things were different here,” Verratti said. “When Ibra (Zlatan Ibrahimovic) and Thiago Silva came here, he (Ancelotti) also played a role. He brought his experience to a club that did not have much.”
Nouveau riche PSG takes on five-time champion Bayern Munich
Nouveau riche PSG takes on five-time champion Bayern Munich
India and Pakistan set for World Cup blockbuster as boycott averted
- With bilateral cricket a casualty of their relations, emotions run high whenever the neighbors meet in multi-team events
- For Pakistan, opener Sahibzada Farhan has looked in fine form but Babar Azam’s strike rate continues to polarize opinion
India and Pakistan will clash in the Twenty20 World Cup in Colombo on Sunday, still feeling the aftershocks of a tumultuous fortnight in which Pakistan’s boycott threat — later reversed — nearly blew a hole in the tournament’s marquee fixture.
With bilateral cricket a casualty of their fraught relations, emotions run high whenever the bitter neighbors lock horns in multi-team events at neutral venues.
India’s strained relations with another neighbor, Bangladesh, have further tangled the geopolitics around the World Cup.
When Bangladesh were replaced by Scotland in the 20-team field for refusing to tour India over safety concerns, the regional chessboard shifted.
Pakistan decided to boycott the Group A contest against India in solidarity with Bangladesh, jeopardizing a lucrative fixture that sits at the intersection of sport, commerce, and geopolitics.
Faced with the prospect of losing millions of dollars in evaporating advertising revenue, the broadcasters panicked. The governing International Cricket Council (ICC) held hectic behind-the-scenes parleys and eventually brokered a compromise to salvage the tournament’s most sought-after contest.
Strictly on cricketing merit, however, the rivalry has been one-sided.
Defending champions India have a 7-1 record against Pakistan in the tournament’s history and they underlined that dominance at last year’s Asia Cup in the United Arab Emirates.
India beat Pakistan three times in that single event, including a stormy final marred by provocative gestures and snubbed handshakes.
Former India captain Rohit Sharma does not believe in the “favorites” tag, especially when the arch-rivals clash.
“It’s such a funny game,” Rohit, who led India to the title in the T20 World Cup two years ago, recently said.
“You can’t just go and think that it’s a two-point victory for us. You just have to play good cricket on that particular day to achieve those points.”
INDIA’S EDGE
Both teams have opened their World Cup campaigns with back-to-back wins, yet India still appear to hold a clear edge.
Opener Abhishek Sharma and spinner Varun Chakravarthy currently top the batting and bowling rankings respectively.
Abhishek is doubtful for the Pakistan match though as he continues to recover from a stomach infection that kept him out of their first two matches.
Ishan Kishan has reinvented himself as a top-order linchpin, skipper Suryakumar Yadav has regained form, while Rinku Singh has settled into the finisher’s role in India’s explosive lineup.
Mystery spinner Chakravarthy and the ever-crafty Jasprit Bumrah anchor the spin and pace units, while Hardik Pandya’s all-round spark is pivotal.
For Pakistan, opener Sahibzada Farhan has looked in fine form but Babar Azam’s strike rate continues to polarize opinion.
Captain Salman Agha will bank on spin-bowling all-rounder Saim Ayub, but the potential trump card is off-spinner Usman Tariq, whose slinging, side-arm action has intrigued opponents and fans alike.
