Neymar elevates Verratti to Olympus

“I knew that Verratti was a great player, but I didn’t realize that he was so spectacular. A genius. He is one of the best midfielders I have ever played with, along with Xavi and Iniesta.”. With these compliments and placing him at the level of the best, Neymar ended his appearance before the media after Paris Saint-Germain’s 1-0 victory against Real Madrid in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16.

The Italian dominated the midfield and signed the best performance of a Parisian player on the green along with that of Kylian Mbappéwho scored the winning goal and also completed a remarkable match in attack.

Marco Verratti imposed his law accompanied by the best bodyguards, Leandro Paredes and Danilo. The Argentine and the Portuguese escorted the Italian, who He gave a midfield class against the best trio of the last five years who started this Tuesday at Real Madrid made up of Casemiro, Modric and Toni Kroos.

The fisherman shone in the creation throwing numerous passes forward and Parisian football passed through his boots. Up to 8.4% of possession was his and he intervened up to 123 times. The data from him in the pass, kneading so much ball, was excellent. Verratti signed a 92% success card with 94 successful passes for 102 attempts. With these, he generated up to six chances. If he was also successful in deliveries, he was also successful in dribbling when he tried to progress on his own, hitting the three times he tried. He even managed to get two fouls on the whites, in addition to a stomp by Militao in a ball dispute that went unpunished.

If he shone in distribution, he also did it in defense. Marco Verratti was omnipresent and always well placed to get even nine ball recoveries. Some came back, but also in the pressure in the rival field, managing to recover the ball on several occasions near the three quarters of the field thanks to an excellent display of physique and will. One that was imposed on all kinds of rivals ‘a priori’ superior in terms of muscle and the dark task of defending such as Mendy or Casemiro.

At the first touch, after controlling, with more or less time to think, every ball that left Verratti’s feet tasted like good news for Paris Saint-Germain. One of Pescara’s best nights in the Champions League earned him praise from Neymar and also some from Italy. LGazzetta dello Sport gave his match a 7.5 and I’m glad he played for their national team. “A complete game: attentive in defense, creative, brilliant and dangerous in attack. It’s nice that he’s Italian.” Almost as much as his performance.