On the eve of the Coupe de France semi-final versus Nantes, at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday, Paris Saint-Germain coach Thomas Tuchel spoke to the press at the traditional pre-match press conference:
THE SQUAD
“Neymar, Edinson Cavani, Thomas Meunier and Di Maria are all out for tomorrow’s match. Maybe Draxler and Dani Alves will be able to play, we’ll see how they train today. They both trained on Monday but we’ll see how they go tonday and tomorrow morning.”
PREPARATION
“THis is a special match, all or nothing, a knock-out match, but we will prepare the same way for every match. We prepare for every match very seriously. Our players are always ready to play against their opponents, every time. Nantes will give everything to win, they are very aggressive, very defensive. We will have to defend well and be careful of them on the counter. It’s a semi-final. We want to win and that’s why I expect a high-intensity, competitive game.”
IMPORTANT WEEK
“This week, we can win a semi-final and also perhaps, the Ligue 1 title. But we are not thinking about the Coupe de France final or the Ligue 1 title, only tomorrow’s match. Staying focused is our number one challenge. We have to be very attentive. We are missing a lot of players, and the players we have, have to play as a team and concentrated”
KYLIAN MBAPPÉ
“He’s an extraordinary player. Whether he plays by himself in the No.9 role or with others, he is still the same attacker. He has a great mentality. He always wants to score. He’s like a shark. As soon as he smells a drop of blood in the ocean, he is there, in the right place. It’s the same in training or in a match. He has that quality. He’s always ready to score.”
