Frédéric D8 Brunet

🚨 Vitinha reveals what PSG players were saying to each other as they raced into a 4–0 lead against Villarreal in 17 minutes: “After the first goal, I remember Fabian telling us, ‘Don’t let them settle. They’re going to try to respond now.’ And that was exactly what happened. Villarreal wanted to get forward, their supporters were trying to lift them, but every time they tried to play through us, we were already there. When Doue scored the second, I went over to him and said, ‘You know we’re only 12 minutes into the game?’ He said, ‘I know. Why?’ I told him, ‘Because you’re celebrating like you’ve scored the winner in the final.’ He said, ‘Then let’s score another.’ A minute later, Mayulu scored. At that point I looked across at the Villarreal players. They weren’t really arguing with each other. They were pointing, talking about distances, trying to work out who should be pressing and who should be covering. And I understand that feeling. I’ve been on the other side of matches where you think you’ve solved one problem and the opposition immediately gives you another. One of their midfielders said something to me as we were getting ready to restart. He asked, ‘Do you ever slow down?’ I told him, ‘Of course. When the referee blows the whistle.’ It wasn’t disrespect. We had been given very clear instructions. If there’s space, attack it. If they close the space, move the ball. If we lose it, recover it. The score doesn’t change those instructions. Then Fabian made it four. I remember turning towards our bench and seeing people standing there almost as surprised as the crowd. Four goals in seventeen minutes is extraordinary, even for us. But what impressed me was what happened immediately afterwards. Joao Neves came over and said, ‘We have to be careful now.’ I asked, ‘Careful about what? We’re four goals ahead.’ He said, ‘Exactly. We can’t start playing as though we have permission to make mistakes.’ That’s the difference in this dressing room. Nobody wanted to be the player who stopped doing his job because we were winning comfortably. People also keep mentioning the players who weren’t starting. Dembele, Kvaratskhelia, Marquinhos. I understand why, because they’re important to us. But we train every day with Doue, Mayulu, Fabian, Joao and the others. We know what they’re capable of. We don’t arrive at a Champions League match wondering whether the team can function without one particular player. And there’s something funny about the way people discuss PSG. When we had famous players and struggled in Europe, they said our team wasn’t good enough collectively. Now we’re playing collectively and winning these matches, some people are asking why we’re so good. I don’t know what answer they want. Villarreal weren’t playing against a list of famous names tonight. They were playing against eleven footballers who knew exactly what to do. And by the time they started finding answers, we’d already scored four goals.”