Champions: Keylor Navas, the hands of God in the PSG | Champions League 2019

The goalkeeper brings consistency and serenity to the defense of a team that today visits Borussia at the Signal Iduna Park.

Beyond the duel between two young prodigies, Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbapp, beyond that Neymar is not injured at the time of the round of 16 of the Champions League, the tie between Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint Germain will be in the hands of God of Keylor Navas, man of faith, arrived this season of Real Madrid with three Champions in the move.

“For many seasons that the goalkeeper of the PSG is not seen as a decisive goalkeeper. It is reassuring and generates confidence in the defenses. He has great strength and a remarkable experience,” he analyzed in Le parisien Recently, Dominique Baratelli, who defended the framework of the Parque de los Prncipes in 381 games.

At 33, Navas has settled in Paris with his wife Andrea, their three children and their faith in God. He does not hide it, kneels before the goalkeeper and prays with arms raised to the sky.

“I kneel to put everything in the hands of God. I have been able to see and feel him in every moment of my life. Like when I met my wife (in a Christian event in San Jos de Costa Rica) that I left her model work and we built a family with Jesus in the center, “he told a religious publication two years ago.

“Able to create environment”

Going down to the earthly, Navas has integrated without making noise in the dressing room of a team of often noisy vedettes. “He is a calm man, a little cold first, but capable of creating atmosphere,” said a connoisseur of the ins and outs of the first team in France. They say that a reggaeton was played in the locker room the night of 5-0 at Bruges.

Since he arrived he has played 26 games in which he has left the goalkeeper to zero in 15, although the weekend he conceded four against Amiens. A crazy game against the penultimate of La Ligue, uff. With such an alignment of circumstances due to the rotations that Ander Herrera played as a right back.

Thomas Tuchel returns to what was his home with the challenge of overcoming the list of eighths in which the PSG seems stuck. It is his second chance, something that his predecessors did not have. Above, he has his usual do Icardi-Mbapp, although Pablo Sarabia “arrives in top form”. Neymar, lacking minutes, and a Di Mara that takes a spectacular season will be on the wings. Marco Verratti and Marquinhos, who has won two more contract seasons, will occupy the center of the core.

The certainties are over, because the PSG defense has suffered a plague of injuries. Bernat has had minutes in the last two games, but it does not seem at the level to demand a knockout round, according to L'quipe. Leave the post to Layvin Kurzawa. Thomas Meunier is safe. And the young and world champion Presnel Kimpembe, who also comes out of an injury, could form the axis of the rear with veteran Thiago Silva, 35 tacos.

10 stops at the Bernabu

The encounter looks like a gunners duel. Borussia is the top scorer of the Bundesliga with 63 goals in 22 games. The PSG has put 67 in 25 games and is leader with 10 points ahead of the second, Marseille. His rival Dortmund is third to four points of the leader, the eternal Bayern. Do you know where the difference is? That PSG has conceded 21 goals and Borussia, 32. Although the French league is not at the level of the German, the data is clarifying.

And it puts in its right measure the influence of Navas, which has also been decisive in Europe. In Bernabu, his 10 stops allowed PSG to tie (2-2), against Bruges (1-0) except for the victory with two stops and a penalty rejected.

Christophe Dugarry, who won the 98 World Cup with Zidane is resounding: “I like his humility and his discretion. Even when the PSG fits goals in which Navas can have some responsibility, nothing happens. Before, everything is put into question . You don't hear him, but he gives security. This guy should be the example of the PSG. “

“Keylor Navas, man of faith” was titled a movie about his life that will be released in 2017 in Costa Rica. “A title that sums up my life,” he said on the day of the premiere. It seems that the PSG is in good hands.