Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) goalkeeper, Gianluigi Buffon is hoping Neymar’s absence from their UEFA Champions League last-16 tie against Manchester United won’t prove a “big problem.”
PSG take on the Red Devils at Old Trafford on Tuesday before the return leg on March 6. Neymar will miss both games with a fractured metatarsal.
Buffon said “I think this is a problem for us. I’m not sure if it’s a big problem or a little one. I hope it’s only a small problem and that we are nevertheless a team that can thrive without him, it would give us great strength and confidence.
“But I must say that without a player of Ney’s caliber, it’s going to be heavy going, particularly because in the last two or three months he’s in excellent condition both physically and mentally and would have been of enormous help.”
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Neymar won’t be the only one missing, as Edinson Cavani and Thomas Meunier have also been ruled out of the first leg.
United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is not taking anything for granted, though:
PSG can still call upon the likes of Angel Di Maria—who will feel he has a point to prove after his disappointing year at Old Trafford—and Julian Draxler in their stead, but they’ll be significantly weakened by the loss of Neymar and Cavani.
Between them, they’ve scored 42 goals in all competitions this season.
All eyes will fall on Kylian Mbappe in their absence, but he’ll evidently miss the pair, with whom he has impressive chemistry:
Buffon, who turned 41 in January, enjoys a good relationship with Mbappe despite their age difference.
When wishing the Italian happy birthday on Instagram, the Frenchman referred to him as “grandpa,” which the veteran found endearing: “It’s only normal that Kylian, who is 20 and thinks of me as a father figure or even a grandpa, but I think that’s nice.
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“When I joke about with Kylian we have a friendly rapport, and it feels like we’re the same age. The way I see it, we have to find common ground and I have to act in a younger way and he has to think along the lines of someone slightly older perhaps.”
Buffon is pursuing a major honour that has eluded him at club level in his illustrious career—the Champions League, in which he has been a runner-up on three occasions—and time is running out for him.