When confronted with the prematch warnings dished out by Barcelona’s players, Paris Saint-Germain’s triumphant midfielder Vitinha insisted that he and his teammates “don’t give a f---” about that.
In the buildup to Wednesday’s marquee Champions League first-round clash in Catalonia, Barça midfielder Pedri had stoked the fires of a bubbling rivalry with the claim: “PSG is one of the best teams in the world, and we are the best. Or so I think.”
Lamine Yamal, never one to shy away from a confident declaration, took to social media. While posting an image of himself celebrating a goal for Spain beneath the question: “Pressure?” Yamal also wrote: “I’m back, and so is the mission.”
Barcelona threatened to live up to their billing after taking a 1–0 first-half lead before PSG recovered to prevail 2–1 thanks to a 90th-minute winner from Gonçalo Ramos.
When confronted with these comments after the game, Vitinha shrugged: “It happens sometimes and we know that there’s this kind of statement before the match, it can work, we don’t give a f---,” he told assembled reporters in French before clarifying that his last comment was the correct sentiment. Everyone nodded.
“We don’t care about it,” he continued. “We played the match, we won, and we’re happy about that.”
Asked if this was a particularly special achievement, defeating one of Europe’s most fearsome teams on their own turf, Vitinha mused: “I don’t know, we’re always capable of winning, against anyone, anywhere. Away from home, it’s difficult; you can just let go and start conceding goals. But we really did the opposite, and that’s impressive.
“We have a very strong squad, and the coach is also very strong. Afterwards, when you do it once, twice, three times, you really feel like you’re capable of doing it again.”
PSG Underscore Status As Champions League Title Favorites
PSG came into Wednesday’s contest without a glut of first-team players. Vitinha himself had been a doubt for the fixture after being forced off in the first half of last weekend’s league win over Auxerre and looked inhibited during the opening 45 minutes of the European tie, gifting possession to Yamal for Barcelona’s crisp opening goal.
Yet, after the interval, Vitinha and PSG regained their composure to take advantage of Barcelona’s perilous high line and ultimately claim a statement victory in their quest to retain the Champions League.
“It’s true that it was an incredible match,” Vitinha gushed, “and personally, I’m proud of this team, really, because it’s happened several times before to reverse the result. We have five players who normally start and aren’t there, you have players who don’t play often, and they responded brilliantly. I want to thank all my teammates.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Barcelona vs. PSG: Vitinha Fires Explicit Retort to Lamine Yamal, Pedri.
