The goalkeeper position is separate. Clubs rarely put two goalkeepers of a relatively similar level in competition with each other, even if this has already happened, for example at FC Barcelona with the cohabitation between Claudio Bravo and Marc-André Ter Stegen during the 2014- 2015. Or this season at Paris Saint-Germain, where the two world-class goalkeepers Keylor Navas and Gianluigi Donnarumma share the matches of the capital club, thus adding an additional headache to manage for Mauricio Pochettino.
If this cohabitation has caused a lot of ink to flow, it is not the first time that two goalkeepers have competed at PSG. Indeed, during the passage on the bench of the Ile-de-France club of Unai Emery, during the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 seasons, Alphonse Areola, now West Ham goalkeeper, and Kevin Trapp, last bastion of Eintracht Frankfurt, opponents in the semi-finals of the Europa League, were fighting for the starting spot in the cages. The current coach of Villarreal also declared in a press conference: “I want two good goalkeepers, I’m very happy with Trapp, I’m very happy with Areola. I didn’t say who was number 1 and who was number 2, I have two very good goalkeepers.
Different paths
Before finding themselves competitors, the two porters obviously went through different paths. Two years the eldest of the French, Kevin Trapp made his professional debut in 2009-2010 in his training club, FC Kaiserslautern, then playing in the Bundesliga 2, but he only began to chain matches after the rise in the Bundesliga that he discovered in 2011. In 2012, following the relegation of his club, he joined Eintracht Frankfurt, then promoted to the first division. He had a very good first season and the club achieved the feat of finishing 6th in the championship, synonymous with qualification for the Europa League. During his third and final year at the club before leaving for Paris, he was even named captain. In the summer of 2015, he therefore signed for PSG against a check for almost €10 million to replace Salvatore Sirigu, who was quickly relegated to the bench.
For his part, the French world champion is a child of Paris Saint Germain. Born in Paris, he arrived at the age of 13 at the PSG training center, with a passage also by the INF Clairefontaine. He started as a professional during the last two days of the 2012-2013 season, before being loaned out for the next three. He started with Lens in Ligue 2, where he obtained the promotion and finished in the standard team of the championship. He then continued with Bastia in Ligue 1, with whom he reached the final of the Coupe de la Ligue against PSG after a decisive save during the penalty shootout against AS Monaco in the semi-final. He was ending his loans with Villarreal, where he had already reached a Europa League semi-final (lost to Liverpool), and where he signed the club’s unbeaten record (620 minutes without taking a goal). Continuing to improve and being the starting goalkeeper each time during his loans, he logically joined the PSG group during the 2016-2017 season to take the place in the workforce of Sirigu, sent on loan to Spain.
A cohabitation in two acts
Trapp and Areola therefore met in the summer of 2016 in the French capital. During the 2016-2017 financial year, PSG lost the title of champion of France against AS Monaco and was eliminated by FC Barcelona during the famous comeback. During this season the two men shared playing time equally, for a relatively identical level. The French played slightly fewer league matches than the German, but he started in the group stage of the Champions League, while Trapp was only in the double loss against Barça. They also each played a national cup. In 27 games, Alphonse Areola conceded only 21 goals and made 13 clean sheets, while Kevin Trapp conceded 23 in 31 games, and kept a clean sheet 18 times. Slight advantage for the German so, however, the following season, it was the Frenchman who started in the Parisian cages.
Indeed, during the 2017-2018 season, the goalkeeper trained at PSG played in the championship and the Champions League, while Kevin Trapp was content with the national cups – which he won – and four Ligue 1 matches. “I started the season with questions. I didn’t know if I was going to be No. 1 or not. But I had a discussion with the coach before the start of the season. Unai Emery’s message? He told me to continue working, even if I had not finished the previous season as a starter. This happened during pre-season preparation. This is where things changed. And, finally, I played the first official match, the Champions Trophy, to never let go of this number 1 spot again.explained Alphonse Areola in the columns of Parisian at the end of this first season as an indisputable holder in the goals of his training club. Having become number 2 fairly quickly, Kevin Trapp did not blame his teammate: “my relationship with Areola? That happens. It’s the truth. They may say he has to say it, but it’s the truth. We get along well. We respect each other. We push each other, the three guardians, we push each other up. There is competition, but we get along well.
The road to that Europa League semi-final clash
The German doorman might not show it, but this situation obviously did not suit him. This is why he left PSG to return to Eintracht Frankfurt in the summer of 2018, in the form of a loan during the first season and then definitively in August 2019. Having become an indisputable and undisputed starter again, he had already reached the semi-finals of the Europa League in 2019, but his club lost to Chelsea in the penalty shootout, during which he had nevertheless stopped César Azpilicueta’s attempt. Finishing between 5th and 9th place in the standings since his return, Frankfurt is currently 11th in the Bundesliga and will not play in any European Cup next season. This season, on the European scene, Eintracht eliminated Real Betis and FC Barcelona, in a Camp Nou committed to their cause.
For his part, the Frenchman, who won the World Cup as the 3rd goalkeeper in 2018, remained an additional season at PSG, during which he had to face competition from Gianluigi Buffon, who notably deprived him of the double confrontation against at Manchester United in the round of 16 of LdC. With the arrival of Keylor Navas, his future in the City of Light darkened, and instead of being transferred permanently, he chained loans again. First at Real Madrid, where he won La Liga as an understudy for Thibault Courtois, then at Fulham, where he could not prevent relegation to the Championship. This season, he is therefore on loan at West Ham, where he holds the Europa League, while Lukasz Fabianski keeps the cages in the league. In the previous rounds, the Hammers had defeated Sevilla and OL.
The first leg in London had turned to the advantage of the Germans, who had won 2 goals to 1 at the Olympic Stadium in a match where the two goalkeepers did not necessarily show themselves to their advantage (3 stops only between them) . At the end of the meeting, Kevin Trapp spoke of his relationship with Areola at the microphone of Canal + : “After the match, he congratulated me. Alphonse is a very good guy, very nice. We spent some time together at PSG. We got along of course. Competition is normal in a club like PSG, we see it today. Everything is fine, we are also happy to be able to play a semi-final of the Europa League. The return match is therefore played this Thursday at 9 p.m. and the two clubs obviously hope to find a European final after that of the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1965 and 1976 for West Ham, and those of the Champions League in 1960 and the UEFA Cup in 1980 for Frankfurt. While having already lost a semi-final each in this competition, one of the two goalkeepers will play his first European final.