Paris Saint-Germain drew 1-1 with Manchester United this Saturday at the Ullevi Stadium in Gothenburg in a friendly match. After the game, Rafel Pol, assistant to PSG head coach Luis Enrique, spoke in the mixed zone. It was an opportunity to take stock of the two friendly matches before kicking off the competitive season on Wednesday in the European Super Cup against Aston Villa.
Pol: “We’ve made the progress we wanted to make.”
“I think it was better [than Wednesday’s match against Mallorca, a 0-3 loss]. The opposition was tougher—Manchester United is one of Europe’s big teams—but we started well, scoring from a good team move. Afterwards, we struggled a bit to control the game, but I think that’s normal; there was still a lot of catching up to do during pre-season. In the second half, we controlled possession better, and I hope we’ll gradually reach the level needed to achieve our goals. I think we’ve made the progress we wanted to make.”
On the return of Marquinhos, Nuno Mendes, Joao Neves, and Vitinha:
“We tried to give them as much time off as possible because rest was important. They’ve been training with us for less than a week, but they’ve shown they’ve quickly reintegrated into the squad. When they came on, we performed well, both individually and collectively. We’re happy with how things are progressing.”
More playing time for returning key players against Aston Villa
Will they be able to play more on Wednesday (in the European Super Cup against Aston Villa)?
“Yes, but the circumstances will be different—similar to the Tottenham match last year. Back then, we’d had ten days of training, and it will be the same for them.”
The young players performed well. “It’s not easy because there’s a huge gap between the pro squad and the U19s, but they showed they could help us out when needed,” as reported by L’Équipe.
Of course, PSG was far from its best this Saturday against Manchester United. Many players are still missing (eight, not counting upcoming signings), and those who were present weren’t at peak physical fitness. It takes time to build momentum, and the goal of friendlies isn’t necessarily to deliver a perfect performance.
However, as Pol points out, there were positive aspects to the gameplay. We saw a more active Paris side, with spells of possession and a pressing game that actually worked—even if there were still some flaws. On a positive note, Matvey Safonov (the 27-year-old goalkeeper) looked sharp. That bodes well for the future.
The same goes for the return of Mendes, Neves, Vitinha, and Marquinhos. It’s unclear yet if they’ll start, but it’s a possibility after they got 30 minutes of playing time. The big question mark surrounds the players returning on Monday: Warren Zaïre-Emery, Lucas Hernandez, Bradley Barcola, Désiré Doué, Ousmane Dembélé, Achraf Hakimi, and Fabian Ruiz—and presumably new signing Lucas Digne as well.
At the very least, PSG has seen that there are academy prospects (Titis) they can rely on during the season. They’ll have time to keep improving, and it will be easier for them to shine in a team that is firing on all cylinders. Still, they certainly made a good impression during these friendlies—and that’s worth noting.
