Last week’s Champions League matches did wonders for mature recollection. Expect more in this week's sequels

Eamonn Sweeney

Kylian Mbappe of Paris Saint-Germain celebrates after scoring their side's first goal with his team mate Neymar

April 11 2021 02:30 AM

Twenty four years ago, I was strolling down the Champs Elysees like the narrator in ‘Parisienne Walkways’ by Gary Moore when I heard an enormous hullabaloo in the distance.

As the noise drew closer I saw a cavalcade of cars sweep down that glorious boulevard. There were lads hanging out of car windows, sitting on bonnets, climbing out of sun roofs, waving flags, shouting and singing, the whole shebang. It remains the closest thing I’ve seen to one of those frantic South American celebrations at major tournament time.

The previous week Paris St Germain had used an illegal player in their Champions League second qualifying round first leg tie at Steaua Bucharest so Uefa changed their 3-2 defeat to 3-0, which put them in severe jeopardy of elimination.

But that memorable night they’d won 5-0 to reach the competition proper. The Brazilian midfielder Rai scored a hat-trick, but it was his colleague from the 1994 World Cup winning squad, Leonardo, who was pulling all the strings in the clips which seemed to be showing everywhere that night and the next day.

These days Leonardo is Sporting Director at a much wealthier PSG. But all the fuss about the club as soccer’s ultimate globalised hype-laden multi-media new model franchise makes it too easy to forget that for half a century they’ve been the best supported team in one of Europe’s major cities. Something authentic underlies the project. PSG is not RB Leipzig.

There are other things it’s easy to forget. The greatness of Neymar for example. So much derision is aimed in his direction a casual observer might assume the career of Paris’ latest Brazilian hero has been something of a flop.

In reality, Neymar has been one of the world’s best players for almost a decade. The two assists he contributed against Bayern on Wednesday put him seventh on the Champions League all-time list on 27 and he will surely overtake Andres Iniesta (29), Xavi (30), Ryan Giggs (31) and Angel Di Maria (32). He’s also just seven goals shy of entering the top 10 scoring charts.

Only two players have surpassed this all-round contribution, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, who are streets ahead of everyone in both goals and assists. The presence of these two behemoths contributes to the under-valuing of Neymar. Who wouldn’t look small next to them?

By any other standard, Neymar has enjoyed a terrific career. This season has been no different. With PSG on the brink of elimination after losing two of their first three group games, he stepped up to score six in their next three.

He gets so much flak for diving you’d think he’d both invented and perfected the art. But it should be said in his defence that he has been bedevilled with injuries which may be connected with his status as football’s most fouled player.

The outrage at any hint of simulation from Neymar is wildly disproportionate. For many supporters in these islands he epitomises that perpetual hate figure, Johnny Foreigner with his poncy hairdo and fancy flicks. Ronaldo filled that post for years before even the sourest sceptics had to acknowledge his greatness. All the snark about Neymar will look just as foolish in the long term.

It’s also easy to forget that Kylian Mbappe was a hobbling passenger in last season’s Champions League final. So eager were most pundits to paint a picture of PSG being found out that they ignored the significance of Mbappe’s condition.

As Bayern only won 1-0 it’s reasonable to assume things might have been different had the young striker not suffered his fateful injury in the French Cup final. Given the extraordinary feats of Messi and Ronaldo, it’s excessive to describe Mbappe as their successor. To emulate them he’ll have to keep doing what he’s doing now, and a little bit more, for another decade.

Yet the young Frenchman is certainly the outstanding candidate to replace them at the top of the tree. More impressive even than his hat-trick against Barcelona and brace against Bayern were the ease with which the goals were scored. Like the very greatest, Mbappe gives the impression of having been furnished with the secret of how to play his sport in the ideal fashion.

PSG’s performances against Barca and Bayern make it easy to forget that Mauricio Pochettino has been having a pretty rough time. Before the Ligue 1 season began a virtual walkover for the champions seemed inevitable.

Instead they’ve lost eight games and found themselves in a title dogfight. The anticipated return to normal service has never materialised. When long-time leaders Lille lost 2-1 at home to relegation strugglers Nimes just before the international break it looked as though PSG’s moment had come.

Finally back on top they looked to hammer home their advantage when hosting Lille last Saturday. But they lost 1-0 and trail the surprise packages by three points with seven matches left. Monaco are one point further back and Lyon a point behind them. The most foregone of conclusions has become a gripping title race. This puts Pochettino under a certain amount of pressure at a club not known for his patience. Yet Ligue 1 will seem a mere sideshow should he steer PSG to the trophy which obsesses the club.

It was probably the Argentinian’s achievement in guiding Spurs to a Champions League final which earned him the job. Tuesday’s performance suggested once more that this is the competition where Pochettino really excels.

It’s not easy to forget Spurs’ dramatic journey to that final but it can seem difficult to believe, given the club’s subsequent slump. As the Jose Mourinho era peters out in a familiar welter of recrimination, Spurs are returning to their natural pre-Pochettino level as a club one step below the elite.

It can’t be easy for Thomas Tuchel to forget his sacking from PSG which made room for Pochettino. But Chelsea’s victory over Porto made it easy for the club’s fans to forget the defeat against West Brom which represented his only blip since taking over at Stamford Bridge. He will relish the chance to provide PSG with more reminders of his talent before the competition ends.

Perhaps it’s been easy for Liverpool fans to forget the importance of a playmaker, given how well the Reds did without one in recent seasons. But Toni Kroos surely jogged their memories on Tuesday night with a performance in Real Madrid’s 3-1 win which reminded us all that an old style midfield general can still be a match-winner.

Last week’s quarter-final first leg matches did wonders for mature recollection all round. Expect plenty more aides-mémoire in this week’s sequels.