Metaphors and superlatives abound after such a victory. PSG demolished Macabbi Haifa on Tuesday night in the Champions League (7-2). A lesson sublimated by the technical genius of his Messi-Neymar-Mbappé trident. Inevitably, this recital did not escape foreign observers.
All hailed this “profusion” of goals, like the Sun. “Christophe Galtier’s side took a long time to find their attacking rhythm, but once they got the hang of it they were devastating and threatened to overtake their 7-1 rout against Celtic in 2017,” said for its part the Guardian. As a reminder, this is the third time that PSG have passed seven in C1 (with Rosenborg in 2000).
The Italian daily Gazzetta dello Sport compares this performance to a “hurricane” which fell “on a determined but overly optimistic Maccabi, because behind it left chasms in which Galtier’s three extraterrestrials were at home”. The former English striker, Gary Lineker, also went there with his tweets of admiration. “Obviously not the strongest of oppositions, but it’s really joyful to watch this fascinating game of triumvirate,” he wrote during the game.
Once we said all that, what did we say about the future of PSG and its credibility in February once the cutthroat matches arrived? The characteristic of a festival is that it generally takes place every year. The opposing defenses will not always be so naive. “Messi, Neymar and Mbappé were on fire in one of the most complete performances of the attacking trio since the start of the season”, agreed the Spanish newspaper As but quickly recalled the club’s propensity to sink when the pressure mounts. . “Tuesday was PSG’s 100th Champions League game in the QSI era, having reached a final in 2020 that tastes like very little in a decade. »
Peter Schmeichel, consultant on the American channel BT Sports, proved to be very radical. For him, this PSG is still not able to lift the Grail. And the same criticisms return. “They need to score a lot of goals to win a game and that won’t always happen. I think they defend very badly. It’s partly because of those three up front players. Bayern Munich, Manchester City, it’s eleven players who attack and eleven players who defend. In modern football this is what you need. A match against City or Real is enough to be knocked out. »