“We were the best team for 70 minutes”… Did Paris see itself too good on Wednesday?

It’s a little music that we may hear for a while despite the elimination of PSG, defeated 2-0 by Manchester City on Tuesday night in the semi-final second leg of the Champions League. That of undeserved defeat or, rather, unrewarded domination. This is what Ander Herrera was quick to say at RMC’s microphone at the final whistle.

“I think we were the best team for 70 minutes, we tried everything, we played, we attacked, we held the ball… We can go in with our heads held high. We’re sad of course, but it’s not easy to be a finalist. And we were still among the top four teams this season. We must not change anything from what we did today, we made a lot of crosses, balloons between the lines, we created opportunities… ”, detailed the former Mancunian of United.

A finding visibly shared by Pep Guardiola at the end of the double confrontation, without us really knowing what is the sympathetic com – intended not to play the arrogant winners – and the pipe. “It was a tough game. They put a lot of players in between the lines. It was good that Mbappé didn’t play, because they are unstoppable in certain situations. (…) We suffered a lot in the first half, but the pressing was better in the second. We defended incredibly well in the last thirty meters. We’re mature, it’s really nice. “

A good start to the match for Paris, and then Florenzi…

It is true that at the time of the first assessment, it is difficult to say that the PSG completely missed its subject for a little more than 180 minutes. As we said, in the first leg, the Red and Blue had perhaps even played their best half since the arrival on the bench of Mauricio Pochettino. Tuesday night, without going so far as to say that Paris scared the Citizens, the Argentinian’s men took the game from the right end, deciding to press high and put their foot on the ball.

Marquinhos: “I think we started well, we started the match well with very, very high pressure. But we know that this kind of match has to be paid for in the details. They held on, they were able to defend well, we did not take advantage of our actions. They arrived once and they scored the 1-0 goal which still puts us in difficulty. “

It was well worth it indeed to have had tea with Sir Alex Fergusson before the meeting and listened to the advice of the wise old man if it is to be opened in large widths from the 10th minute of play. Yes, yes, we’re talking about you, Florenzi. Yet informed by Pochettino during the long video sessions dear to the Argentinian of the quality of the raises at the foot of Ederson, the Italian side was guilty of a very relative alignment (no, scandalous) allowing on Zychenko to bombard the left side before Mahrez finishes the job on the opposite side.

If he usually refuses on principle to point the finger at the individual errors of his players, Tuesday, Poché had more difficulty in containing himself. “We gave Manchester City a gift on a situation that we had anticipated in addition … Behind, it’s difficult to recover when we make such mistakes. “Marquinhos’ head on the bar could have put Paris back on track, just like Di Maria’s strike, off target, while Ederson had deserted his goal but on arrival, it does not weigh very heavily. In any case, it is difficult to speak of frank domination, as the Parisians did after the match, when the team failed to frame ONE SHOT of the evening. In the semi-final of C1, we have to go back to 2015 and a Bayern-Barça to have trace of such fail.

City did not steal their qualifying

On the other hand, blaming everything on Florenzi, who was no lightning bolt when he arrived at the club last summer and won’t be when he leaves either, would be dishonest on our part. It is thus not his fault if Paris did not frame the slightest shot (!) Of the whole meeting. No, on this point, the ex of Roma was wisely followed by a lot of his teammates, starting with Neymar, who had promised before the match to give his life to City as long as there was a qualifier in the end of the tunnel. The problem with this kind of Hollywood-style teasing is that you have to ensure a minimum behind.

However, on Tuesday, we had the dark side of the Ney, the one who goes headlong into thinking that his technical quality alone can allow him to ignore the calls of his friends. Except that the technical quality of the Brazilian, we did not see much color at the Etihad… We will also avoid looking into the case of Mauro Icardi under penalty of saying things that would go beyond our core thoughts.

Mbappé is playing a better game than Icardi.

– Gigg’s (@Giggs_) May 4, 2021

But this analysis of Parisian individuals, generally failing on Tuesday evening, also contrasts with the impression of collective strength released by this City team, which deserves its qualification hands down according to the executioner of Sarcelles, Riyad Mahrez, author of three goals against Paris . “I think it’s deserved over the two matches, we deserve to pass, we were able to be effective when we needed to. “ And we are not talking about his sidelines, which allowed Guardiola at the end of the game to bring in Sterling, Gabriel Jesus and Agüero when Pochettino launched at the same time Dagba, Bakker and Danilo Pereira … To your wishes.

“We fought to the end and we never gave up, I’m proud of my players for that, tried somehow to put the Parisian coach into perspective at a press conference. He missed the small percentage chance it takes to get to that level. And in the two games we were unlucky. We cannot repeat the Munich heist every day.