It will be a special day for Coman
BERLIN: France winger Kingsley Coman needed to move to Bayern Munich to finally get a chance to play at the Parc des Princes today, a feat he never achieved it during his time at Paris Saint-Germain.
Paris-born Coman joined PSG’s youth academy at the age of nine and made his first team debut as a 16-year-old in February 2013.
But he featured in only three other Ligue 1 games, and never played at the Paris arena.
His contract was not renewed in 2014, prompting a move to Italy’s Juventus from where he then moved to Munich a year later.
Now he comes to PSG’s home stadium for a Group B clash after both sides won their opening games, PSG 5-0 at Celtic and Bayern 3-0 over Anderlecht.
“As a child, I used to dream about it,” Coman said about playing in the stadium. “I’m even happier to be coming back here with Bayern.The atmosphere there is something special for every Parisian”
Coman names PSG “the club closest to [my] heart” and will have his parents in attendance, with his father a big PSG supporter.
Coman named big-spending and ambitious PSG “a very complete team” and naturally highlighted their strike force featuring Neymar, Edison Cavani and Kylian Mbappe.
“Their trump card is their attack. We’ll have to be really focussed and defend together as a team if we’re to stop them,” Coman said.
“I hope we win, that’s the most important thing, whether or not I play, we will see. Of course I’d be happy to play, but what’s more important is getting the right result.”
Bayern’s other Frenchman, Corentin Tolisso, also anticipates the big game after a summer move to Munich from Olympique Lyon.
“We’re going to Paris in order to win. Paris will be very motivated, it’s going to be a big game,” Tolisso said.
The midfielder also revealed that PSG are the team he has faced most during his career – but with a dubious record from the 11 games: eight defeats, two draws and only one victory.
Munich in general are even worse off, having lost all three previous games against PSG at the Parc des Princes, the last one 1-0 in September 2000 – and Bayern still going on to lift the trophy.
Another Munich man with memories of PSG is coach Carlo Ancelotti, who was in charge there between January 2012 and the middle of 2013, helping the team win a first French League title in almost two decades, after it had been taken over by their wealthy Qatar investors.
“The club was very different to Milan and Chelsea. PSG resembled a club from my early years than a club with global ambitions,” Ancelotti once said.
PSG’s main target is winning the Champions League first time, and for this their backers have invested hundreds of millions of euros over the years.
Bayern, by contrast, have won Europe’s biggest club event on five occasions, and are still a big player although they are not backed by wealthy owners like PSG or Manchester City.
“They have good players but we have our weapons,” Munich defender Rafinha said.
Munich president Uli Hoeness meanwhile believes that they may have more long-term financial stability because investors at other clubs may pull the plug if they fail to win the Champions League.
“The investors will say: We have put so much money into it and don’t achieve what we want to, now we are fed up. And that’s when our time comes,” Hoeness told Monday’s edition of Kicker sports magazine.
Neymar has been included in Paris St Germain’s squad after recovering from a foot injury, coach Unai Emery said yesterday.
The Brazilian’s return fuelled speculation over whether the Brazilian forward or Cavani would take a penalty if the French club are awarded one during the match.
The two players argued in the 2-0 win over Olympique Lyonnais nine days ago when Neymar tried to take a penalty instead of Uruguayan Cavani, who eventually had his spot-kick parried away by the keeper.
“Neymar is in the squad to play the game,” Emery told a news conference.
Neymar, the world’s most expensive footballer, missed PSG’s 0-0 draw at Montpellier on Saturday as the team dropped their first points of the season in Ligue 1.
Argentine winger Angel Di Maria also returns to the PSG squad after nearly three weeks out injured.
Neymar and Cavani are likely to start alongside Mbappe in a 4-3-3 formation and Emery said he had discussed the penalty situation with the players.
“I spoke with each of them and they know how things will happen,” the Spanish coach said. – Reuters, DPA OF COURSE it is a magnificent stadium. But Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium did not make much of an impression on me on Monday night, at least not as much as the old Highbury did back in the late 1990s when I visited.
It could well have had to do with the fact that this current Arsenal team is nothing like the exciting one with the legendary Frenchman Thierry Henry leading the attack and Tony Adams stopping the opposition from reaching David Seaman.
But then again it is not as if Alexis Sanchez and Alexandre Lacazette aren’t quality players.
Sure they had some help from referee Robert Madley – he made two dodgy penalty decisions both in favour of the Gunners, firstly waving away what should have been a spot-kick against the hosts and then giving them a rather soft one which Lacazette converted – in putting away West Bromwich Albion 2-0.
That though should not be allowed to take away from their workmanlike showing that was worthy of the three points.
For me, however, I was left wondering whether the trip to the Emirates was worth the £50 (about R900) that our hosts shelled out for the match ticket.
Unlike at the London Stadium on Saturday where the atmosphere for the match between West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur was electric throughout, there was a generally subdued mood about the Gunners fans.