The Argentine technician from OM spoke at a press conference on Friday, two days before the classic match against Paris, Sunday (8:45 pm).
As we meet again … The final poster of the eleventh day of the French Ligue 1 between OM and PSG, on Sunday (8:45 pm), in the Vélodrome, will see the crossing of the former Argentine coach, Jorge Sampoli, the path of Lionel Messi and several players from Albiceleste. The reunion was widely discussed during the Argentine technical press conference, on Friday, a day after the draw at Lazio Roma (0-0), in the European League, and one day before the Classic. “It’s the possibility to play against the best and raise our level, even if we only have 48 hours to prepare for this encounter. But when we play such strong players, it increases the level of the opposing team.‘ speculates OM coach, who is also in a good position to talk about Kylian Mbappé, an executioner.sonArgentina in the World Cup Russia 2018.
Paris Saint-Germain’s fast attacks : «It will be necessary to control the ball and lose the ball against a very effective team, which has very fast players and a lot of individual abilities. It will be necessary to control the match to defend the ball.»
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Significance of this poster : «The importance of the matches is related to the expectations of the fans. We know that the people of Marseille want to see a match played against an opponent of another level and he shows it in every transfer window. But we know we have to be competitive in this match for the supporters of OM, the club, the city. The difference with other matches is the emotion of the fans that you give.»
“Lionel Messi is the best player in the world.”
Jorge Sampaoli
Lionel Messi : «I played against him and coached him. We know he’s the best player in the world and it’s very difficult to control him and his creativity. The most important thing is to know how to reduce their individuality thanks to our game and our control of the game. We have to make sure that Messi is far from our target because we know he can hurt us badly if he is close. To goals…cages…the best way to stop a player like this is to control the game. (…) I am not going to teach anyone anything by saying that they are always superior to other guys who can be described as normal. I haven’t lived in a convenient context to take advantage of it, unfortunately, but I’ve never changed my mind about it. He has a long career at the top, proving that he is an everlasting player. He did it thanks to his professionalism and participation. It would be a pleasure to see him on the field again, but it is always difficult to face a player like him because we know he can hurt you at any time… (…) I haven’t spoken to him since (World Cup 2018).»
Promise the title to Paris Saint-Germain : «No, I cannot take it that the title was promised by PSG. Of course, they show great consistency and it’s a team built for that. But there are a lot of things that make us think we can do something about it. Things can happen during the game. It is up to us to take advantage of our opportunities in this meeting. Of course, we respect their qualities but we also have that hope as fans who think we have potential and want to take advantage of it.»
Reunion with Argentina internationals from Paris Saint-Germain : «Don’t worry about it, I’m only interested in setting up my team. We have little time to do that after Lazio. So we don’t have time to deal with memories, only with the present. (…) I haven’t spoken to them since. I just saw Nicolas Otamendi in a friendly against Benfica. We haven’t met yet.»
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Mauricio Pochettino : «PSG is a great team and they have great players, so it makes sense that they need time.»
the group : «Of the players who were present yesterday (against Lazio), only Cengiz Ander had a bit of an embarrassment. We’ll see tomorrow (Saturday) hopefully he’ll be back for the game.»
Paris key : «If PSG can get past the pressure, we will have a hard time, because they are a team with a lot of accuracy and speed. It will be necessary to ensure that the attackers touch some of the balls and are not able to make their quick attacks. Yesterday, we decided to deny Ciro Immobile and the strikers the ball and get as close as possible to the Pau Lopez cage. We were able to do that through our game, with control of the ball. Next, we must be attentive to the development of the match, with certain situations that can create feelings that may derail us from our game plan. However, if we get out of our thoughts against a team like this, very quickly, too. Strong, we will surely suffer …»
“Only a country can bring all these players together in a team.”
Jorge Sampaoli
Kylian Mbappe : «Playing against a space player like him is always complicated in front of him. Even if we had the ball, any loss of the ball could be fatal because he expects it, he is always there. But as I said before, football is very important politically and economically… You can see countries buying clubs and the best players. It makes things more complicated for the other teams, who don’t have those possibilities. We’re talking about Mbappe, but there’s also Messi, Neymar, Angel Di Maria… Only a country can bring all these players together in a team. Mbappe or the other players I just mentioned can change the course of the match in one move…»
Interview at a press conference
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