PSG have smartly shifted into plucky underdogs for Bayern Munich Champions League tie – The Warm-Up

FRIDAY’S BIG STORIES

Unlikely Underdogs

It’s nearly time for the knockout stages of the Champions League to get going, which means it’s nearly time for one of modern football’s most endearing traditions: PSG’s exit.

Now, we’ve been assuming that it will come at the first opportunity, since PSG – in case you’ve forgotten – finished second in their group, and were punished for that failure with a tie against Bayern Munich. Bayern aren’t having a perfect season by any means: they only lead the Bundesliga by a single measly point, and have probably drawn more games than Julian Nagelsmann would really like.

But in Europe they absolutely pummelled their way through what looked, in theory, like the trickiest of all the groups, beating Barcelona, Inter and Viktoria Plzeň home and away. Only the Czechs managed to even score against them. Not that any of this really matters, since the reason PSG lose in Europe is mostly to do with PSG.

More than any other tournament, the Champions League is a thing of vibes and narrative. And PSG are usually the victims of this: the desperation of the project to win is what does for them, time after time. But with Bayern already favourites, with at least one and maybe two of the big names out, and with PSG’s domestic form all over the place… is this the vibe shift we were all warned about? Are PSG… plucky underdogs? Could they, might they, go through?

We’re saying oui. And then we’re saying: they get done in the quarter-finals by Napoli.

Relax, Antonio

Football is filled with impossible jobs. Every week for the last 20 years or so, some poor soul has been sent out onto a football pitch with the instruction: keep an eye on Messi. And they’ve nodded, and clapped their hands, and maybe even believed that they’ve got a chance at doing so. But ultimately, it’s not up to them. It’s up to the other guy.

Well, we think we may have found a task even more thankless. Antonio Conte’s doctor. We’re sure that Tottenham’s manager is a model patient, all the way through the process. But we are equal parts charmed and terrified to learn that Conte’s been asked to “take it easy” while he recovers from the removal of his gallbladder.

This is Antonio Conte! A man noted for his fine hair, for his love of a good wingback, and for celebrating even the most routine of goals like he’s just found an all-chocolate Kit Kat. If there was a competition to find the most agitated person in world football, he’d be disqualified for being a bit intense and making the judges feel uncomfortable. Taking it easy is more or less a medical impossibility.

“Our tactics came from the job that Antonio did for a long time. For me it was easy to continue to work in the same way. You can change some things, and we changed some things. Me and Ryan Mason, we spoke immediately during the game, we have to change something, and we used Eric Dier to be aggressive on Bernardo Silva. This was tactically the only aspect that we changed. But normally we work continuing and following what Antonio did since he was in charge.”

Go home, Antonio. Put your feet up. Do a jigsaw. Put the finishing touches on your list of the Top 100 Wingbacks Ever, put your faith in Ryan Mason, and take it easy.

Back Again

Like the mole that never stays whacked, like the Terminator that can’t be terminated, like the seething heads of the hydra, the Super League is back for another go.

This Super League isn’t going to be limited to just the big beasts. It’s going to have 60 teams. Or maybe 80. Now you might be thinking: hang on, there’s quite an important difference between those two numbers; that’s like a whole division. The current proposals don’t have a huge amount of details but there will be promotion and relegation!

There are more undertakings.. Teams won’t be taken out of their domestic systems, apparently.

Intriguingly, A22 chief executive Bernd Reichart told Sky Sports News that the project is not contingent on Premier League clubs joining.

IN OTHER NEWS

Neville Southall. Hero.

RETRO CORNER

As stated above, this is the final edition of the Warm-Up, and on behalf of everybody that’s written it over the years, we’d like to say two things. One, it’s been a lot of fun to write, and we hope just as much fun to read. And two, thank you. However, we’re sorry to say that we leave with our mission incomplete. If you put “best warm up ever” into the internet you don’t get our archive. Instead you get this guy doing this.

Suppose he was pretty good.

COMING UP

AC Milan vs. Torino in Serie A. Birmingham City vs. West Brom in the Championship. Schalke vs. Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga. And Hamilton Academical vs. Hearts in the Scottish Cup.

This is the Warm-Up, signing off. Good morning, and good luck.