Philipp Lahm is a very busy man, in his capacity as chairman of the organizing committee of Euro 2024 in Germany. But that does not prevent the former Mannschaft and Bayern Munich defender from keeping a close eye and talking about football in his column broadcast in several international media, including L’Equipe. A ticket where the world champion returns this Tuesday to the elimination of PSG by the Bavarian club in the knockout stages of the Champions League. Scratching one man in particular: midfielder Marco Verratti.
“Marco Verratti is a good example. He is a good footballer, sure with the ball and precise in tackles. One of the best players in the Italian selection. But in the jersey of PSG, he assumes his strengths and has not assimilated the role of the defensive midfielder who gives stability to his team, he criticizes. Therefore, he has no bond with his teammates. In the return match in Munich, he lost the ball on the action bringing every goal conceded. Afterwards, he claimed that there had been a fault, when even his teammates had seen that everything had happened correctly. In dangerous situations, he took far too many risks. »
“Verratti is a symbol of PSG”, believes the one who retired from sport in 2017. Because in his eyes, Paris “can make you sad. In Munich (0-2), we did not see the class that this team is supposed to have thanks to its exceptional players. It was a disappointment. But at the same time, there are no surprises, because the early elimination of PSG from the Champions League is a recurring event. »
Messi ‘helpless and desperate’
Beyond the case of the Italian, Philipp Lahm dwells on the two stars of PSG, without a solution in this return match against Bayern Munich, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé. If the Argentinian “has also shown great class gestures”, the German judges him “helpless and desperate” among individuals who do not know “just do not know how to score collectively”.
As for the Frenchman, who “undoubtedly has the qualities of a world-class player”, he “just waited for the ball to reach his feet”. “I can’t imagine how Mbappé’s career can take on another dimension in Paris,” says Philipp Lahm about the future of the Bondy prodigy.
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