PSG – MHSC: “The return to competition has made everyone responsible”, Montpellier want to create the feat against Paris

| August 23, 2024 | Sport | No Comments

PSG – MHSC: “The return to competition has made everyone responsible”, Montpellier want to create the feat against Paris

Benjamin Lecomte devra réaliser un grand match face au PSG. Midi Libre – RICHARD DE HULLESSEN

Pour tenir le choc face au PSG post-Mbappé, Montpellier aura besoin d’une défense solide et d’un état d’esprit parfait, lors de cette 2e journée de Ligue 1.

Montpellier is heading to Paris in gala attire. To go and play in the Parc des Princes, the legendary stadium of the Platini years, he is getting ready to put on the “away” jersey. This unique tunic, designed to celebrate the 50th anniversary, lists the names of the 617 players who have worn it one day.

“I felt a certain emotion when I discovered it on a video”, recently confided the president Laurent Nicollin. For the first time, Téji Savanier's partners will feel on their shoulders the weight of the history of the youngest club in Ligue 1, which wants to keep its place there.

Montpellier will try to live up to this past that has been carefully tended since the dawn of summer. If for several seasons, it has liked to get some fresh air and points away from the Mosson, it is measuring itself from the start at a top level beyond its category. And risks suffocating some illusions because this meeting resembles a crash test for its defense.

Ten matches, ten defeats

Since the historic draw (2-2) on February 19, 2012, which paved the way for the title, Montpellier has often lost its illusions in the face of the whirlwind of the new PSG. If it had until then taken a malicious pleasure in strolling on the grand boulevards, it is now suffering a boomerang effect, under the effect of a gap in means that continues to widen. Between the Qataris and the rest of the troop.

Read also: PSG – MHSC: Sylla still injured, a striker back… with which team will Montpellier play ?

The dream often turns sour. The Montpellier team has conceded ten defeats in as many matches against the French champion during the last five seasons. At the Parc as at the Mosson.

She knows even more than anyone else the vexation that accompanies a trip to the lands of PSG, which leaves only crumbs and which can want to mark with its imprint the beginning of a new era.

This Friday, Paris will want to chase away the ghost of the new Madrid player Kylian Mbappé, who left after seven remarkable years, and mark out the milestones of the new attack, under the influence of Spanish coach Luis Enrique. With the tricolor trio: Dembélé, Kolo Muani, Barcola at the bridgehead.

The recent memory of the crash on the Parisian dream of greatness imposes a certain modesty on Michel Der Zakarian's players. “If Paris wants to play a big game, it will be complicated… It's up to us to play the game we need to annoy them, it's up to us to be present in the defensive sector. It's still a plus to bring something back from the Parc des Princes", believes goalkeeper Benjamin Lecomte.

Montpellier goes to the Parc in search of a bonus. And clues about its defense. It will gauge its ability to unite around a defense that is under construction. Weakened by injuries, it has displayed an experimental face throughout the preparation in the image of a constantly renewed hinge. The absence of the sentinel Joris Chotard, who returned in Olympic form from the Olympic Games and was promised a start, did not help.

“Friendly matches remain training sessions. The return to competition has made everyone more responsible. I am happy with what we offered in front of Strasbourg, I found it positive” notes the Montpellier goalkeeper.

Read also: "Things can happen in the meantime", Montpellier's Joris Chotard will perhaps play his last match with MHSC against PSG

To approach a season, where the defense promises to be on the front line, Benjamin Lecomte aspires to more stability. “When I returned (January 2023, editor's note), the defense hadn't moved, the results had followed and galvanized the group. When you remove a link, it becomes fragile. Last year, we changed too much by choice, injuries or cards. Preserving the backbone is a priority. Especially since I like to have benchmarks”, he recommends.

There's nothing like a meeting at the Parc to find out if this defense can see further.

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