Paris Saint-Germain has reached their first-ever Champions League final after beating RB Leipzig by 3-0. Although Di Maria was rightly adjudged Man of the Match, Neymar also had an impressive outing last night.
The Brazillian gave a tricky backheel assist for Di Maria’s goal. He also came very close to scoring from a free-kick 35 yards out but hit the post. His finishing was off sometimes as he created multiple chances but lacked composure in front of goal. Despite this, Neymar was impressive throughout the match.
Neymar’s teammate Kylian Mbappe is backing him to lead PSG to the Champions League win and finally realise his Ballon d’Or dream. The 28-year-old wants to be named as the best in the world.
Mbappe told reporters in Lisbon: “I’m really sure if we win the Champions League, he could win the Ballon d’Or. He would love to win it and I would love it for him, and this would mean we win the Champions League.”
“As our coach said we understand each other [Neymar, Mbappe and Di Maria] very well on the pitch. It’s important for the whole team. It’s really comfortable to play alongside a player like Neymar. He’s one of the best in the world and proved that again today.”
“He didn’t score but it’s not the most important thing. Instead, Di Maria benefited.”
Mbappe, himself has somehow recovered from a ligament injury to start for PSG in the Champions League semi-final. He has not yet returned to his prolific best but can still run down opponents’ defences.
He said: “The injury is not over yet but I feel well, better and better every day. I don’t have any pain but we have to be careful. Still, I’m ready to give everything on the pitch. All I want to do is win.”
Passe décisive 👟
— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_inside) August 19, 2020
But ⚽️
Passe décisive 👟
En effet, Fideo mérite le titre d’𝙷𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚎 𝚍𝚞 𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑 de cette demi-finale 🏅👏 pic.twitter.com/W61Y11PO92
Man of the Match, Angel Di Maria is looking to win his second Champions League after he won it with Real Madrid in 2014. He said: “We are very happy. We produced a great match, we wanted to enter into the club’s history and we succeeded in taking PSG to the Champions’ League final. It was very important for us to make it there. If we continue like today, that could help us in the final.”
“I think that we made RB Leipzig weak. We played at 100% We knew that with this enormous energy that we had, we could qualify. The start of the match was good, and we held on right until the last.”
“It is going to be difficult to sleep tonight, thinking about the final. The most important thing will be working on the match, we are going to do that each day. We see clearly in any case that the French league is of the required standard. Whoever the opponent is, we are going to have to recover but we will give the maximum.”
PSG are due to face the winners of the second semi-final, Bayern Munich or Lyon on Sunday.
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