Paris Saint-Germain will welcome Real Madrid to the Parc des Princes next week for the first-leg of their UEFA Champions League tie. The capital club will hope to go on another deep run in the competition.
The Spanish club could be traveling to the French capital without arguably their best player in Karim Benzema ahead of the matchup. During a segment on La Chaîne L’Equipe (via Canal Supporters), pundit Nabil Djellit spoke about PSG playing against Los Blancos without Benzema.
“The possible absence of Benzema? It would change a lot of things (…) but not everything either. There is a Real Madrid with and without Karim Benzema; that’s a certainty and not being 100% is not good news either, even if he is an experienced player who knows himself and who knows how to manage his efforts,” Djellit said.
“Even diminished, he has exceptional technical accuracy, which could compensate for a lack of rhythm since he will not be playing on Saturday.”
Should Real Madrid be without their striker next week, PSG has one fewer threat that the Ligue 1 side needs to worry about during the match. Nonetheless, Djellit adds that with the season that Vinícius Jr. is having, the Brazil international can carry the attack for them.
“Before, it was the desert (in attack) without Benzema, but now you have Vinicius who can do damage, and then it is still a high-level collective expression Real. It’s not an average team, and even without Benzema, it’s still a big team that PSG will have to deal with,” Djellit said.
The first leg is on Tuesday, and then the French giants will be heading to the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium on March 9th, hoping to have a positive result.
