September 27, (THEWILL) – There are encouraging indicators that Mauricio Pochettino may be able to field some of his top shots when the Ligue 1 giants Paris Saint-Germain file out against English Premier League champions Manchester City in a highly anticipated clash in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday at the Parc des Princes in Paris.
Since beefing up his squad in one of the best ever summer transfer businesses across Europe, in terms of money expended and quality acquired, that brought in a clutch of high profile signings with the likes of Lionel Messi, Gianluigi Donnarumma and Sergio Ramos, PSG have reasonably been touted to be amongst the favourites to lift Europe’s top prize after years of trying and failing.
That expectation has scarcely transformed into reality given early reading of the team’s performance this in Europe season. Even if it is indeed early days to judge the team’s progress and they still are unbeaten in Ligue 1 after eight games, Pochettino continues to sweat over the fitness of key players.
The most disturbing for the Argentine manager is obviously his compatriot and former Barcelona legend, Messi, whose glittering displays for the country in the hat trick against Bolivia early this month, have not translated into his new side at the French capital. And, there is also the knee injury to Marco Verratti, whose return had been uncertain.
But in good tidings for Pochettino, the two first team players took part in Monday’s training sessions as the manager and crew made final preparations for the second round of Group A schedule of European fixtures.
Having disappointed in the 1-1 draw against Belgium’s Club Brugge in the first round and found themselves already trailing last season’s runners up, Pochettino knows, more than most, how important getting their European season going will be but also how difficult a task they as face off against Pep Guardiola’s side.
Pochettino’s experience as a finalist himself with Tottenham Hotspur in the 2018/2019 season and his experience playing regularly against City in his years managing in the EPL are enough material for his preparations, which are not made any easier based on the extremely high expectations that have been piled on his side with the immense quality at his disposal.
That is why it will undoubtedly be a huge boost for him if Messi and Verratti feature for PSG on Wednesday, especially as the Manchester side will be coming off of the very huge morale boosting victory against current UCL winners Chelsea, in their matchday six EFL fixture on this weekend, after three unsuccessful tries to defeat Thomas Tuchel’s side.
In their Group A opening game, City thrashed RB Leipzig 6-3 to head the standings with confidence and Pochettino will be hoping that Tuesday’s clash at home will spur his own side to hit their full stride and show the stuff they are made of on the field of play rather than simply on paper.
It will also be an opportunity to avenge being knocked out over two legs last season when an injury to young goal poacher Kylian Mbappe did not help Les Parisiens’ fortunes and City marched on victoriously from their semi-finals double header with a 4-1 aggregate win
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
