NEYMAR’S FINALLY READY TO DELIVER ON THE BIG STAGE
ASHLEY COLE reckons Paris Saint-germain’s front three of Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Angel Di Maria will be too hot for Bayern Munich to handle in Lisbon tonight. And the former Arsenal and Chelsea star, who won the Champions League with the Blues in 2012, insists he’d now make Neymar his No1 signing ahead of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo if he was a manager with unlimited funds.
Cole said: “Right now Neymar is definitely one of the best in the world in terms of the quality he is bringing. He is a team player and he just seems at home in Paris.
“Over the last two seasons he has probably felt in Messi’s shadow but he has come into his own now. He has come to PSG and is the star player with Mbappe. He feels at home and he feels like he is free.
“He is playing with that freedom, with enjoyment, and from the outside it seems like he isn’t playing second fiddle anymore.
“He’s the main guy, and if I had unlimited money he would be the first player I’d buy.”
That is some testament from a man who played against Neymar, Messi and Ronaldo.
Cole kept Ronaldo quiet in a game between Manchester United and Chelsea in 2006 and came out on top in each of his three
Champions League clashes with Messi. So it’s no surprise that he fancies the Brazilian and his Parisian pals to come out on top in the battle of the frontmen with Robert Lewandowski, Thomas Muller and Serge Gnabry.
Cole, speaking at the
Hotels.com Dream Screen, added: “Their attacks are different. The PSG front three will run in behind you. They’re quick, they’re sharp.
“Apart from Alphonso
Davies, Bayern don’t like to penetrate with runs in behind. It’s more combination play and then making runs in behind from a little bit deeper or somewhere in the attacking third.
“I would rather mark the Bayern front three because you can control that if you don’t get too tight and want to press with aggression. It’s not a case of outfighting or outwitting them, but you can control what you can control.
“The danger is behind and I wouldn’t want to play against Neymar, Mbappe and Di Maria to be honest. It will be a fascinating game and tough to call. “I don’t know how interchangeable Bayern’s formation or personnel is – will they change formation or the way they play? They have to because they are coming up against a very good PSG side, with Di Maria, Mbappe, and Neymar coming in between the lines.
“That’s the only weakness I see in Bayern because they are so ruthless. They are like a machine – they grind wins out. They are so effective in the way they play and their understanding as a team is very good. But that weakness will play into PSG’S hands.”
Cole played in three Champions League Finals, losing with Arsenal and Chelsea before winning one, and he knows PSG won’t be as wasteful with chances as Lyon were in Wednesday’s semi-final against Bayern. He said: “They are so clinical they don’t need three chances to score. One chance, one goal – that changes games. I’m going to go with a PSG win because if Bayern don’t change their formation and style they are going to get punished.”