I don’t know how I missed this incident between Paris Saint-Germain defender, Presnel Kimpembe, and Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland but thankfully we have the Internet to capture these sorts of things for enjoyment later.
Here’s my favorite performance🤩 https://t.co/arIP52PEBQ pic.twitter.com/XjVe01uA72
— Eduardo Razo (@_eddierazo) May 30, 2020
During last Wednesday’s UEFA Champions League clash between the two aforementioned clubs, Kimpembe was credited for silencing Haaland.
The 19-year-old played the entire match and was given a rating of 6.1 out of 10 by WhoScored.com. After scoring two spectacular goals in the first leg, Haaland didn’t even manage to get a shot off at the Parc des Princes and recorded a 62 percent pass success percentage. This guy is supposed to be competing with Kylian Mbappé over the next decade? Sure, OK…
Back to Kimpembe for a second. The Frenchman showed some real grown-man strength against the Charmin-soft Haaland and provided the blueprint on how to stop the striker who up until last Wednesday had been on an incredible goal-scoring streak.
The secret seems to be to just get physical with Haaland. Bundesliga defenders may not be able to get away with lifting him off the pitch and throwing him to the ground as Kimpembe did, but it’s worth going up to that line in an effort to slow him down.
What’s worrying for Dortmund and those who protect Haaland on social media for some odd reason, is that after he was thrown to the grown, he did nothing about it. He didn’t come back at Kimpembe nor did he let his play on the pitch do the talking. He just kind of took being bodied like that and then limped off defeated at the end of the match. Where is the fighting spirit?
If this is the Kimpembe that PSG can rely on over the next few years, PSG will be in good shape at center-back.
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