ASHLEY COLE EXCLUSIVE
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 would now make Neymar his No.1 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 – and a lot of people have said it – 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, he plays with enjoyment and, from the outside, it seems like he isn’t playing second fiddle any more.
“He’s the main guy, and if I had a chequebook and unlimited money, he would be the first player I’d buy.”
And that is some testament from a man who has played against Neymar, Messi and Ronaldo.
Cole famously kept Ronaldo in his pocket 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 is no surprise, then, that he fancies the Brazilian and his Parisian team to come out on top in the battle of the frontmen with Robert Lewandowski, Thomas Muller and Serge Gnabry.
Speaking at the Hotels. els. com Dream Screen, Cole e added: “Their attacks are different.
“The PSG front three will run in behind you, they’re quick, they’re fast, they’re sharp.
“Whereas, 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 outwi t - t ing them, but
you
can control what you can control. The danger is behind – and Neymar, Mbappe and Di Maria ( below), I wouldn’t want to play against them, to be honest.
“It will be a fascinating game, a tough one and it will be very tough to call.
“But I don’t know how inte interchangeable Bayern’s fo formation or personnel a are – will they change the formation or the way they play, the style they play?
“They have to because they are coming up against a very good PSG side and a good front three with Di Maria, M b a p p e 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 and their understanding as a team is very good.
“But that weakness will play into PSG’s hands.”
Cole, who played in three Champions League finals, losing one each with Arsenal and Chelsea before finally winning it, knows PSG won’t be wasteful with chances as Lyon were in Wednesday’s semi-final with Bayern.
He said: “They are so clinical they don’t need three chances to score goals.
“One chance, one goal – and 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.”
Di Maria, Mbappe and Neymar are so clinical, fast
and sharp » Bayern Munich have reached their 11th european Cup/Cl Final, with only Real Madrid playing in more (16). They currently have five titles, the fourth-best tally behind Real Madrid (13), AC Milan (7) and liverpool (6).