Paris Saint-Germain coach Unai Emery says his side will be using two
upcoming matches against arch-rivals Marseille at the Parc des Princes
as preparation for the Champions League clash with Real Madrid. PSG’s
games with Marseille are usually the biggest fixtures on the French
footballing calendar, but Spaniard Emery insists that tomorrow’s Ligue 1
match and next week’s French Cup quarter-final come second to trying to
keep alive their European dream.
The big-spending capital club were beaten 3-1 in the first leg of their
last-16 tie last week as Cristiano Ronaldo scored a double for reigning
champions Real. “These are two ‘clasicos’ (against Marseille)...which
will serve to prepare us for Real,” Emery wrote this week on his
personal website.
PSG, who were held to a 2-2 draw at Marseille earlier this season, are
12 points clear at the top of the French table and set to reclaim the
title they lost to Monaco last season. It would be a fifth league crown
in six seasons for the Parisians but, for all the money poured into the
club by their Qatari owners, PSG have not been able to translate
domestic domination into European success, with the 6-1 humiliation at
Barcelona a year ago the low point.
Emery attracted a lot of the blame for that performance and for the loss
to Zinedine Zidane’s Real at the Santiago Bernabeu, where he removed
striker Edinson Cavani with the score still level.
But the former Sevilla coach argues that PSG are much better at home,
where they had beaten Barca 4-0 in the first leg last season. “It is
above all at the Parc that we remain a powerful force,” he added.
“Marseille and Real Madrid know they have to come to Paris, but they
don’t really know what is facing them. Together we will do it.”
Cavani scored twice in a 5-2 romp against Strasbourg last weekend, the
second set up by world-record signing Neymar. But Cavani’s on-field
gestures make it clear he thinks the Brazilian should pass to him more
often and their strained relationship is under the microscope. For
Marseille, there might never be a better time to go to the Parc des
Princes as they look to end a 15-match winless streak against PSG dating
back to November 2011.
They have not finished in the top three since 2013 but are regaining
some consistency and punch under Rudi Garcia and enter the weekend one
point behind Monaco in the race to finish second. The warm-up to the
main event is the latest round in another of France’s bitterest
rivalries as Saint-Etienne travel the 70 kilometres to Lyon.
Whatever happens on the field, expect fireworks. Lyon’s thumping 5-0
victory in the return fixture in November saw captain Nabil Fekir
provoke anger from the Saint-Etienne fans by holding up his shirt in
front of them, culminating in a yellow card and a one-match suspension.
Both sets of fans have been persistently guilty of setting off flares at
games and the resentment between the clubs runs deep. Bruno Genesio’s
Lyon have gone four league matches without a win to slip six points
adrift of Marseille in the race for a Champions League spot.
Fixtures
Today: Toulouse v Monaco (1600), Guingamp v Metz, Lille v Angers, Nantes
v Amiens, Rennes v Troyes, Dijon v Caen (all 1900) Tomorrow: Bordeaux v
Nice (1400), Lyon v Saint-Etienne (1700), Paris Saint-Germain v
Marseille (2000)
Paris Saint-Germain’s French forward Kylian Mbappe (left) takes part in a training session in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Paris, yesterday. (AFP)