“The absence of Paul Pogba and Federico Chiesa weakened Juventus,” says PSG manager Christophe Galtier after 2-1 win in the Champions League

The penultimate matchday of the UEFA Champions League ended with Paris Saint Germain beating Juventus 2-1 as Kylian Mbappe and Nuno Mendes scored for the Parisians whereas Leonard Bonucci’s goal ended up as a mere consolation. However Juventus were already out of the Champions League even more the clash as they have struggled throughout the season and finished third in a group where Benfica finished at the top ahead of PSG.

While PSG played a decent game the fans were not happy as they thought the players were not committing enough with the World Cup just around the corner and none of the players would like to miss it due to an injury.

One player who was criticized through the fanbase was Renato Sanches who has joined the club recently after a decent stint at LOSC Lille and hence Christophe Galtier was impressed and brought him to Parc des Princes. While most people still believe he can flourish as a top footballer, this match against Juventus was simply not his day. Hence the Portuguese midfielder received massive backlash from the PSG fans.

Lastly Galtier spoke about the situation of Juventus as he highlighted how the Bianconeri were missing key players since the start of the season and that affected their morale and hampered their game mentally aswell. He asserted how big the absence of Paul Pogba and Federico Chiesa can be to a team and therefore he understands why they got demoted to the Europa League.

“I simply think they were missing the necessary squad from start to finish for this type of game. The absence of Paul Pogba and Federico Chiesa is fundamental. The chain of various situations weakened Juventus, both on a technical level and mentally,” Galtier asserted.

He also shared how the Champions League always requires an extra bit of effort from the players and Juventus were constantly dealing with several issues so they never foudn that 110% which was required to progress to the next step this season.

“The Champions League requires 110% and since the start of the season Juventus have always had these problems. I think that was the main reason,” the PSG manager added.

In the Serie A as well Juventus have featured in 12 matches till now and have won only six, while drawing four and losing the other two. They are in seventh position which is very uncharacteristic of the Old Lady as we have often seen them dominate in Italy. However now the tables have turned and Napoli lead the Serie A table and are the only club unbeaten right now.