Paris Saint-Germain vs Valencia CF @ 20:45

One of Valencia CF’s resident Frenchmen, Aly Cissokho, acknowledged the difficult task ahead of the team in his homeland tonight in the Champions League. The match against Paris Saint Germain is currently stacked at 1-2 against VCF on aggregate, but nobody is giving up the fight just yet.

 

"We lost at home but, despite everything, we still have the chance to win in Paris. We need to score and can’t stay back and wait for them –we will have to play our own game. Nothing is impossible in football,” he stated.

 

The Frenchman said that it would be “a difficult game,” adding that “we need to have patience, as it will be a great tactical battle. We will have to be strong in defense and put away the chances that we get.”

 

Regular starting centre backs Ricardo Costa and Adil Rami will not feature in the game, so VCF manager Ernesto Valverde has only Víctor Ruiz as a specialist in the center of the defense. Left back Jeremy Mathieu was brought into the middle for the derby against Levante, but Cissokho said on Monday that he would have no qualms about filling in.

 

"I’m here to help and if the manager asks me to play there, then he can count on me. It will also be good to have some playing time,” he said.

 

PSG also have important absentees for the rematch. Striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic and  midfielder Marco Verratti are both suspended.

 

"They are two important players,” Cissokho told the press. “ Ibrahimovic holds the ball up well and Verratti is a very technical young player who runs his team’s play. Despite these two big players missing for them, they have great substitutes like Beckham and Menez who can come in,” he added.

 

Responding to questions about the defensive mistakes made by Valencia off throw-ins of late, the left back revealed that Valverde had not made any specific reference to that aspect of the team’s play –rather that everybody “needs to work and be more attent.”

 

"We’ve dropped points due to mistakes like that and it can’t happen again –above all against PSG, because it could put us out of the competition.”