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We have long said that if Neymar really wants to be voted the best in the world, and he really wants it, he will have to win the European Champions League. Last year, in the Lisbon bubble, he hit the post. Paris Saint-Germain reached the final for the first time in their history, but lost to Bayern Munich.
Now, in 2021, PSG beat Barcelona in the round of 16 even without Neymar: Mbappé and Navas shone. Messi is out. Cristiano Ronaldo too. Open road, right? Wrong.
This Friday’s draw put Paris on the most difficult path possible to reach the final in Istanbul, which will be played on May 29. To get there, PSG will have to face the team to beat, the European and world champions, Bayern Munich. And then, possibly the team that is most in a position to dethrone Bayern: Guardiola’s Manchester City.
They are all on the same side of the key. In April, Bayern and PSG meet, with their first match in Munich and their second in Paris. Manchester City will host Haaland’s Borussia Dortmund as the Frankish favorite, even though the game is back in Germany.
The winners will meet in one of the semi-finals, with the first game in Munich or Paris and the second leg in Manchester or Dortmund. The higher odds indicate that we will have the long-awaited duel between Bayern and City, the two best teams in Europe at the moment, in the semi-finals. Neymar and PSG have the herculean task of challenging them.
Paris is not having a good season. He has already changed coach (from Tuchel to Pochettino) and does not lead in France, but he lived up to what was expected of him in the first leg against Barça (4-1 at the Camp Nou). Bayern Munich are leaders in Germany and have not lost a Champions League match in two years (18 wins and 1 draw in the period, with 3.5 goals per game on average). Manchester City are England’s loose leader and have won 24 of their last 25 games of the season.
The good news for Pochettino is that he will be able to arm PSG in the most obvious way for these games, taking advantage of the team’s virtue and with space. Compact defense and medium, closed, and a lot of speed with Neymar, Mbappé and Di María in counterattacks.
On the other side of the key, Real Madrid face Liverpool and Porto play Chelsea, with the second leg matches scheduled for England. In the semifinal, who will decide at home will be who goes to Porto and Chelsea.
Real and Liverpool reissue the 2018 final, when the coaches were already Zidane and Klopp and Madrid won their 13th European title. The two teams experience a rollercoaster of the season, alternating good and bad results and performances and having to deal with major injuries. Real Madrid is third in Spanish, Liverpool seventh in Premier. Whoever passes this duel of the titans will reach the semifinal strong.
On the other hand, Chelsea are favorites for eliminating Porto. Tuchel’s team, a former PSG coach, has conceded just 2 goals in the 13 games since the German’s arrival at the helm (9 wins and 4 draws).
In 2005, the only time the final was played in Istanbul and the last time the tournament had neither Messi nor Cristiano Ronaldo in the quarter-finals, Liverpool and Chelsea reached one of the semi-finals: Liverpool would be the champion over Milan, in which was possibly the greatest final of all time.
Assumptions? I think Bayern will be accompanied by the three English in the semi-finals. In the bookmakers, after the draw, Manchester City rose as the “favorite” to the title by a small margin. And what do you think?
