Marco Verratti, PSG midfielder, admitted that the elimination against Real Madrid in the knockout stages of the Champions League had sounded the group during a bitter season which he analyzed at length, Sunday after the match draw against Troyes (2-2).
Marco Verratti (29) did not really appreciate PSG’s performance on Sunday against Troyes (2-2) in Ligue 1. Arrived in 2012 at the club, the Italian midfielder embarked on a long analysis of the behavior of his team but also of the season which he ended with a taste of unfinished business and without real pleasure. He thus recognizes that the elimination against Real Madrid in the knockout stages of the Champions League deeply bruised the group.
« We could do much better with the team we have »
« There is a bit of frustration, he confided to the microphone of Amazon Prime Video. I think these are matches where you have to have fun and have fun, it’s winning and playing well as a team. We are in one of the quietest moments of the season because there is no pressure. We just have to have fun. When you are free in your head, you can enjoy it even more. I’m a little frustrated for that. We’re coming to the end of the season and we always come out of games feeling pissed off. It’s not the thing you dream of at the end of the season, especially when you’re already champion. »
« I honestly think that we could do much better with the team we have, continues the Italian. In difficult times, we could be better. When we are good as a team, we manage to take even more pleasure on those matches. It was a tough season. Even if we are champions, at the start of the season it was tough, we won a lot of matches at the end. That means we have great character. because we’re still there two minutes from the end to score a goal. But I think we could be better as a team. It’s true that we changed the team a lot with several rookies. is not an excuse, but it’s the truth. It’s difficult to create a big group when you change a lot. You have to keep the good things of this season and put an extra stone to be as high as possible. We could do better. »
He embraces the trauma of elimination against Real last March. Winner 1-0 in the first leg, PSG was scuttled in eleven minutes on the return, losing 3-1 at the Bernabeu on a hat-trick from Karim Benzema. « We fought against Madrid doing 150 minutes very well, recalled Verratti. We won the championship, that’s good and I think there’s not much missing. Everyone has to give more more to say at the end: ‘OK, we have no regrets, we gave everything, they are stronger’. We have this little regret. »
« We had a dream in the Champions League »
“We lived through more difficult situations than this year even if it was hard, he concludes. We did little training together, I have the impression that the first six months passed without us succeeding in three training sessions together. Between the trips to the selection, or the players who came back too late to play, the first six months were very difficult. Afterwards, I found that we had something better. We had it a little demonstrated in the period of Real Madrid. Against Real, we were good. I think this match killed us, like the fans. In the end, we win the championship, we are happy, it’s never easy. We had a dream in the Champions League, especially to go further. There can be small details in the quarter-finals, semi-finals and you can find yourself in the final having played two games well. Madrid gave us a good shot. «