Julian Draxler believes that Paul Pogba’s suspension will give Paris Saint-Germain a big advantage in their second leg against Manchester UnitedChampions League tie gives his own side a huge advantage.
Pogba was given his marching orders in the closing stages of PSG’s victory at Old Trafford on Tuesday night after being shown a second yellow card for a foul on Dani Alves.
By that point, two unanswered away goals from Presnel Kimpembe and Kylian Mbappé had already dealt a severe blow to United’s hopes of qualifying for the quarter-finals.
But United’s task was only made more difficult by Pogba’s dismissal and caretaker manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer later admitted that his side had a mountain to climb.
Draxler said he and his team-mates were delighted to take a commanding first-leg lead back to Paris and added that Pogba’s dismissal only tips the tie further in their favour.
“Yes, I think so because for me Paul is the best player of Manchester United,” he said. “[He is a] very important player for the team and even today you could see he is fantastic and that is why we are very happy he will not play the second leg.
“We are happy about the result but also the way we were playing. We were very confident, especially in the second half and we deserved to win.”
PSG will, once again, be without their own star player when the two sides reconvene next month. Neymar missed Tuesday’s first leg in Manchester with a metatarsal injury and will not recover in time for the second.
Edinson Cavani and Thomas Meunier were also unavailable to head coach Thomas Tuchel and many speculated before kick-off that PSG could suffer from their absences.
Draxler was not surprised that much of the pre-match attention surrounded players who were out of contention but was confident of returning to the French capital with a result regardless.
“If two players like this are missing, everyone is talking about that, that is normal. For sure, we are better if Cavani and Neymar are playing but we have an excellent team even without them,” he said.
“It is not easy to come to Old Trafford and win and that is why we are very happy and proud today and we know we have to finish it in the second leg in Paris.”
