The Parisian coach appeared at a press conference on Tuesday in Munich, on the eve of the Champions League round of 16 second leg against Bayern.
Our special correspondent in Munich
How to overthrow Bayern?
“Play, play a lot more than what we did in the first leg. With another game plan. The presence of Kylian (Mbappé) will bring much more depth and percussion, but it will be necessary to make sure to have more the ball and to be much higher on the ground, if possible to recover the ball much earlier in the opposing camp.”
The PSG season is played on Wednesday … or not
“No. I don’t have that feeling. When you are at PSG, all matches are important. We are in a very tough competition. Tomorrow (Wednesday) there will be a winner and a loser. We all want it to be PSG (the winner)… But that’s how it is. We play every game with the ambition to win. The C1 is always a very high objective on the part of PSG, there is this desire, this determination to go as far as possible in this competition. But there is this draw, with this double confrontation against Bayern. Apart from the result, it will be necessary to have a much more aggressive, much more conquering behavior, and to achieve a much more complete match than in the first leg. If we are in this state of mind, with this desire to do things, we have the possibility of qualifying.
Le Bayern Munich
“It’s a club that is used to being very often present in this competition. It’s been a great institution for decades and decades. Great players have come here, great players have replaced great players here. The institution has nevertheless always been placed above the coaches and the team. We will be in a magnificent and full stadium. I dare to hope that we will cool this atmosphere … ”
The absence of Neymar? Believe me, it’s a handicap for the team.
Christophe Galtier
The absence of Neymar, out for the end of the season
“I hear and I read the debates around Ney’. Already, the first unfortunate, it is him. He is seriously injured. Believe me, it’s a handicap for the team. We are talking about a player who has scored 17 goals and made 11 assists since the start of the season. When I read that it’s so much the better, no. He is seriously injured and he is a player who has always been very professional since I have been at the club. He had a difficult post-World Cup period, but I repeat, it’s 17 goals and 11 assists (18 and 17 in fact, editor’s note). Is the team more balanced (without him)? Yes, by the profile of the midfielders. But is it better that way? Having Ney ‘in the workforce is an additional asset on an offensive plan to score goals.
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The metamorphosis of PSG
“In some matches, there were very difficult compositions to make, with a large number of absentees, I am thinking in particular of the Monaco match. In the first leg against Bayern, Kylian’s absence is detrimental (he entered on the hour mark, editor’s note), and Achraf Hakimi was quickly reduced. Same against Marseille (during the 2-1 defeat in the Coupe de France, editor’s note), there were also significant absentees. Have we found a certain balance with a different organization? Maybe. But against Nantes, after leading 2-0, we conceded two goals… In the matches we lost in the Coupe de France, in the league and in the Champions League, the squad was very small.
We will have to be very vigilant but also very daring in our way of attacking.
Christophe Galtier
The defensive flaws of PSG … and Bayern
“Every system has strengths… and flaws. In the last matches, against Lille and Nantes, we conceded goals. It needs to be fixed. We are working on it with the players. Not specifically on the pitch because we don’t have time anymore but we talk about it a lot, I spent a lot of time with some players this morning (Tuesday morning). But if there are flaws with us, there are with the adversary. We will have to be very vigilant but also very daring in our way of attacking.
The shots on goal
“I am convinced that this is not a lottery. The players don’t work on the gesture technically because training is one thing, but after 120 minutes of a match, in front of the public, the environment is totally different, there is a psychological aspect. There is work done by the goalkeeping coach with Gigio Donnarumma and I have a fairly clear strategy for the order of shooters. Often the best shooter is last or fourth. Except that the last or even the fourth sometimes doesn’t have time to shoot… The best shooters must therefore make the decision to shoot as quickly as possible. Afterwards, there is also the psychological aspect that a goalkeeper can have in front of the shooter.
the infirmary
“Nordi Mukiele is better. We stepped on his tendon, but he’s better. He will train normally, like Achraf Hakimi. I will make the decision after the session, with their feelings. Regarding Marquinhos, he will also train normally. We will take stock after the session but it seems to me that the three players are competitive.
Gigio Donnarumma
“He is a reliable and very high-level, young goalkeeper. We can refer to the goal conceded against Nantes … Once it has happened to you, it must not happen again. This is also experience. He knew how to be decisive in important moments. I consider him to be a very high level goalkeeper.”
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A great moment for himself
“Have I prepared for this match more than others? No. The sequence of matches makes you focus on the match you are going to play. Did I anticipate coming back to a system in view of this double confrontation? I couldn’t do it in the first leg, we certainly have the possibility of doing it tomorrow. Do I want to be there quickly? Yes. It is a privilege to prepare for these matches, to be present at these matches. It’s an important meeting.”
Josip Stanisic, announced in the Bayern 11
“He’s a very good player. It’s a name that does not carry in Europe, but when you are a coach and you prepare a match against Bayern, you know that he is an important player in the Bayern system. He has an ability to be able to play in the corridor, to be third central defender too. I heard (Julian Nagelsmann) who said that he would play even if he had a little muscular alert. Tell you that we are preparing our match in relation to the presence of Stanisic? No, it would be very reductive compared to the other Bayern players…”
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