Gordon: Hoops need to pull a Faddy in Paris
Kylian Mbappe, Gordon feels the Parkhead side are good enough to become the first time in Champions League play this season to get the ball into Alphonse Areola’s net, even if it might take something as spectacular as Leigh Griffiths’ free kick against Ross County to beat him. The goalkeeper was delighted to remind French TV last night of his visit here ten years ago, when he masterminded the rearguard Scotland effort which got a clean sheet against a highly-regarded French team and even embellished the occasion with an assist for McFadden’s goal.
“French TV asked me if I’d played at the Parc de Princes before and I had great delight in telling them I won here with Scotland,” said Gordon. “It was a great night and one I’ll always remember. To come here and keep a clean sheet was an unbelievable achievement against a French side with superstars throughout their team. Football has moved on a bit since then and it will be an even more difficult challenge to try and get anything out of this game.
“Their keeper looking to break the clean sheet record brings its own pressure. But that’s not something we can worry about,” he added. “We need to look at our game and we have seen a couple of areas where we think we can hurt them. We will try to get into areas to score and have to hope that someone can produce something special, just like Faddy did against France. With something like that you always have a chance. But first we need to stay in the game for as long as possible.”
Gordon insisted that even the prospect of facing the most fearsome strike trio in world football isn’t enough to make him miss any of his precious shut-eye. At some point during his lengthy career with club and country, the 34-year-old has faced most of the big hitters of the world game. So he should be taken seriously when he claims that PSG’s current triumvirate could even surpass the Luis SuarezLionel Messi-Neymar combination at Barcelona in years to come – assuming, that is, they can all get on together for long enough.
“I’ve been lucky enough to face most of the best strikers in the world and this three are definitely right up there and will only get better,” said Gordon. “Looking back to the first game, they were right up for it. We caught them on a good night and we have to hold our hands up and say they were too good. In terms of how they attacked and passed the ball, it’s as good as I have ever faced. I only had a couple of saves. They were clinical with the rest.
“Can they surpasss the Neymar, Messi, Suarez trio?” he asked. “Who knows? As long as they get on with each other for long enough! So hopefully that doesn’t last! No, their talent is certainly capable of taking them that far.”