So here it is…
5th May 2009
The biggest movies of the year were Inglorious Basterds, Avatar and the Hurt Locker. Dizzee Rascal and Kanye West (ahem) dominated the charts and David Cameron was still sat in opposition.
Lionel Messi was about to win his first Ballon d’Or AND Arsenal last played in the semi finals of a Champions League. We’ve waited almost 16 years… so many false dawns and even a half decade in the footballing wilderness of the Europa League but now…
WE’RE BACK!
You have to go even further back for our last winning semi final effort with this heart stopper against Villarreal in 2006.
That’s right almost 20 years since that famous night in the then Madrigal. Hopefully the spirit of Jens won’t be needed by Raya over the two legs…
Predicted Team
After the last round the line-up pretty much sets itself. The big hope is that both Merino and White come through their injury scares.
Whilst obviously it’s Merino who’s most important the bench is looking very light with this game probably arriving too soon for Calafiori and Jorginho even though they should be back for the return leg.
The threat of the team depending on whether it’s Trossard or Merino up front is night and day. In a few short weeks Merino has proven to be our signing of the season raking with both goals and assists.
The Opposition
After defeating the biggest name in club football in the quarter finals we now face probably the most in form.
From the new year they’ve won 23, drawn 2 and lost 2 with those two losses coming in legs against Villa and Liverpool when they still managed to progress regardless.
Now whilst as per usual they have steamrollered Ligue 1 their form in the CL has been iffy. A lot of people point to their form post January when they’ve comprehensively slapped up City (although so did we and even Real Madrid managed it) and Stuggart but to my eyes they have looked very uncertain at times against Villa and Liverpool.
Villa in particular had them fully on the ropes looking dazed and PSG needed a dodgy injury time allocation to really get them over the line.
PSG are one of the four other clubs that our manager has played for, and we have an unbeaten record against them having won twice and drawn three of our previous competitive matches, a record we extended earlier this season in the Group Stage when we comprehensively put them away.
Notice both goals coming from crosses… set pieces have proven to be a constant weakness for them this year so hopefully Joever has been cooking something up in the lab.
There are a few former players who’ve played for both clubs ranging from the ridiculous (David Luiz and Kaba Diawara) to the sublime with our once upon a time teenage phenom Nicolas Anelka sandwiching his time at Arsenal and Real between two stints with the Parisians.
Danger Man
extended. Again this isn’t necessarily the star studded PSG team that’s so embarrassingly flattered to deceive in Europe over the years.
Gone are the “Galacticos” of Neymar, Mbappe, Messi, Ramos and Cavani now replaced with a glittering array of youngsters such as Zaire-Emery, Barcola and in particular Desire Doue who looks scarily good.
We could also say Kvaratskhelia who’s arrival in January has coincided with a higher level for PSG but in terms of danger men it has to be the man with more goals than starts this year…
Ousmane Dembele who has been in frightening form in both Ligue 1 and Champions League.
COYG LETS SMASH THEM
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