Leading up to the UEFA Champions League match between Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid, all of the talk was about the manager Thomas Tuchel likely leaving Neymar Jr. out of the starting lineup. Well, with less than an hour before kickoff, that news has been confirmed.
PSG XI vs. Real Madrid: Navas – Meunier, Silva (c), Kimpembe, Bernat – Marquinhos, Gueye, Verratti – Di Maria, Icardi, Mbappe.
PSG bench vs. Real Madrid: Rico, Diallo, Dagba, Draxler, Paredes, Cavani & Neymar. #UCL
— Jonathan Johnson (@Jon_LeGossip) November 26, 2019
The world’s most expensive player does make the bench for Les Parisiens and will likely see some playing time in the second half. It’s a surprise move from Tuchel who for the first time all season, had all of his attacking options open to him. I predicted he would go with Mauro Icardi, Angel Di Maria, Kylian Mbappé, and Neymar but clearly the German didn’t want to unbalance the team that much.
Le 1⃣1⃣ de départ Parisien pour ce #RMPSG ⚡️
🔛 #UCL
🔴🔵 #AllezParis pic.twitter.com/ILP8V74qlA
— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_inside) November 26, 2019
Other than the Neymar bombshell, Marco Verratti makes news with his return from a knee injury. He must have performed well in training to convince Tuchel he’s recovered enough to perform at a high level.
The rest of the lineup is about what you would expect. Presnel Kimpembe and Thiago Silva are the center-back pairing and will look to maintain PSG’s incredible run of not letting in a single goal so far in the group stage of the Champions League.
I’m eager to watch the front line of Icardi, Mbappé, and Di Maria attack Madrid’s defensive unit of Raphaël Varane, Sergio Ramos, Marcelo, and Carvajal. There’s definitely going to be goals in this for PSG.
Kickoff is less than an hour away! Allez Paris!
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