While British rock stars Oasis won’t be singing their hit, “Supersonic”, at the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles until September 6, Paris Saint-Germain’s defenders might very well have been inspired to make a cover version of their own, which they could aptly call “Supersolid" after a fine debut showing at the Fifa Club World Cup.
Speaking after keeping the water-tight good times going in the US, captain Marquinhos offered his thoughts on just why PSG have been so hard to breach.
“Our defence always starts in attack,” said the Sao Paulo native, who donned the captain’s armband for PSG for the 229th time against Atletico Madrid.
“For me, that’s the difference in our team right now. Our forwards run a lot and defend a lot. For example, Goncalo (Ramos) played and did a massive job. The team has great momentum right now. We know how to press and how to defend.”
“We all attack and defend together,” added Fabian Ruiz, who scored his sixth goal of the season across all competitions in the match against the La Liga side.
“We have excellent defenders, and our forwards help a lot. I think that’s the key to our team. We’re united, and we’re rewarded when we score goals and keep clean sheets, which is very important.
Marquinhos revealed that, before matches, the players “talk to each other” and make a point of not letting anything past them.
So far, it has worked very well. With the best defence in Ligue 1 this season with 35 goals conceded in 34 matches, PSG have only conceded three times in their last six matches in all competitions, dating back to May 7.
“We’re motivated by this,” admitted the Brazilian centre-back. “If we keep clean sheets and don’t concede goals, we’ll always have a chance to win because we know how strong we are in attack, and we know we’ll always have opportunities.”
Opportunities the Parisians had in abundance against Atletico (11 shots on goal), and while the defence achieved its third clean sheet in a row, it is worth remembering the current European champions have scored 12 goals in the same period, bringing their season total to 156 goals in 59 matches, a supersonic number that could easily grow bigger during the Club World Cup.
