Pedro’s men hit goal trail INSIDE YOUR BUMPER 24-PAGE PULLOUT
EDINSON CAVANI has the kind of look that would make even Medusa avoid eye contact. A big, hollowcheeked assassin with a glare colder than a December day at Broadwood Stadium. The kind of guy you might expect to be working as the muscle for a Montevideano drug cartel.
No wonder he fitted in so well during all those years he spent in Palermo and Naples.
It is anyone’s guess how many goals he will score for Paris Saint-Germain with baby-faced henchmen Neymar and Kylian Mbappe now providing the ammunition. Fresh from managing 49 goals in 50 outings at club level last season, Cavani already has seven from five Ligue One games, two of them penalty-kicks.
The woodwork, alone, stopped him from scoring four at Metz on Friday night. He ended up with two. Not at his best in that 5-1 win, but pretty much unstoppable all the same.
That’s the worst of the bad news ahead of the Uruguayan’s trip to Glasgow as part of a £414million attacking trident facing a Celtic side with one fully-fit centre-half.
There is some good news leading up to the opening night of Champions League Group B on Tuesday. Well, a number of things to take encouragement from, at least.
As Brendan Rodgers presided over an easy win at Hamilton, his Celtic staff would have been compiling reports and assembling footage from the action unfolding in Metz’s Stade Saint-Symphorien and the Constant Vanden Stock in Anderlecht. Their observations should sharpen appetites rather than bring on any queasiness over the days ahead.
Celtic can only hope to make PSG’s visit a live contest, much as they did with Manchester City 12 months ago. Metz suggested Rodgers’ side can ask questions.
PSG controlled possession, as they should against such lowly opposition, but they were in a real game of it until home defender Benoit Assou-Ekotto was sent off 11 minutes into the second half.
Indeed, they should have been 2-1 down by then.
Their system just isn’t right yet. The team isn’t settled. Ergo, it can be argued this is the best time to be facing them — particularly at home.
Cavani was the spearhead of a 4-2-3-1 formation, fielded in front of Julian Draxler on the right, Mbappe and Neymar. Naturally, given that calibre of player, there were always going to be some sparks in the final third.
Neymar and Cavani connected nicely for the opener. Mbappe made a couple of chances. The collective understanding between the whole of the front four wasn’t quite there, though.
Perhaps manager Unai Emery avoided going 4-3-3 because of Marco Verratti’s suspension. Whatever the reason, it brought negative side effects.
Adrien Rabiot, the rangy midfielder unhappy at having his forward instincts blunted so often last term, looked lost at times alongside Thiago Motta.
Of course, Verratti is back for Parkhead. Thiago Silva could also return in defence. Dani Alves and Layvin Kurzawa may be preferred to Thomas Meunier and Yuri Berchiche at full-back.
That such doubts exist over the line-up is positive for Celtic. This is a supremely talented PSG squad, but it is one still finding its feet. And that makes it more vulnerable than it will be when Anderlecht, for example, are providing back-to-back opposition in October.
Europe is the least of the Belgian champions’ worries right now, mind you. They beat Lokeren 3-2 on Friday thanks to an 89th-minute goal, but head coach Rene Weiler is fighting to keep his job in the wake of a torrid few days.
If PSG’s team consists of the ‘11 motorbikes’ Rodgers talks of, the wheels appear to be coming off at Anderlecht.
The trip to Belgium in just over two weeks’ time should be ringed off in red pen on Rodgers’ calendar. Anderlecht are fragile, and that game could be decisive in the joust for Europa League football after Christmas.
Weiler’s very team selection up against Lokeren pointed to a man in the Last Chance Saloon after taking just five points out of a possible 15. Having sold Youri Tielemans to Monaco, £6m was spent on bringing in Sven Kums from Watford, but he was left in the stand.
‘Kums should always play, but Anderlecht does not always use the midfield too much,’ is how club legend Walter Baseggio addressed the issue.
Fellow summer signings Josue Sa and Robert Beric were also axed along with defender Kara Mbodji, who had failed to return from international duty with Senegal in time. It is not even certain who will start in goal against Bayern Munich on Tuesday.
Anderlecht were poor in the first half against Lokeren. Better in the second. But they are not the team that graced the last eight of the Europa League last term. Their 3-2 home loss to Sint-Truiden on 20 August showed a side vulnerable on the flanks and susceptible to cross balls.
If Celtic could go there with even a point on the board, they could put themselves in a terrific position. To do that, though, they will have to be disciplined and focused against their French counterparts.
Scott Brown certainly cannot afford to be taking sly kicks at grounded opponents, as he appeared to do with Hamilton’s Giannis Skondras.
His red card for doing something similar to Neymar, of all people, against Barcelona in 2013 should be a warning that foreign referees won’t let him charge around like a bull in a china shop the way Scotland’s finest do.
As Metz discovered, it is tough enough with 11 men against PSG. With ten, it is almost impossible.