Rivaldo Exclusive: PSG can still knock Man City out of Champions League

PSG let Manchester City come back from a goal down and achieve a valuable away win in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final. But as I used to say these ties are 180 minute contests so there’s still the second half to play.

I’m sure that the French team still believe they can make a comeback in England, especially having Neymar, Mbappe and Di Maria as a trio at the front to make a difference.

Actually, I think that PSG played very well in the first-half in Paris and deserved to lead at the break, but they made two costly mistakes that allowed Man City to take the lead in the tie.

Man City were playing below the standard expected of them but they ended up scoring twice from weird situations. Now, the same can still happen in the second game in the opposite way, so Pep Guardiola’s outfit should feel they cannot relax at the Etihad.

Real Madrid’s experience may get them to Champions League final

Chelsea have a slight advantage after drawing 1-1 with Real Madrid in Spain but that’s a less significant factor without fans in the stands at Stamford Bridge for the second leg. This tie is completely open and Madrid’s superior pedigree could make the difference.

Karim Benzema scored with a great move inside the box and his ability to take smart decisions around the opponent’s goal has been crucial for Zidane’s team for a while. He is a complete striker nowadays because other than goals, he can also provide assists for his teammates thanks to his impressive technique.

He’s become a big game player thanks to his great temperament and it seems obvious that the squad and fans trust him a lot to solve Real Madrid’s problems these days.

Barça and Madrid remain in Super League for financial reasons

Juan Laporta insisted this week that Barcelona are still in the European Super League project despite 10 other clubs quitting. He said a final decision from the club could only be made after consulting club members. I think Barca’s desire for the new league is solely for financial reasons.

As we’ve been seen in this pandemic period, Barcelona and Real Madrid are facing financial difficulties and even negotiated salary cuts with their players.

But I don’t think the Super League will go any further since the fans don’t want it and it’s tough for a club to go against its own supporters.

England team of 2002 was very strong

England are one of the favourites to win Euro 2020 the competition which reminds me of how strong they were in 2002 when I played against them in the World Cup.

That was a great squad, with David Beckham, Michael Owen and others, and I was certain they could have gone much further if they had managed to beat my Brazil in the quarter-finals.

That quarter-final was very tough for us. After the sensational Ronaldinho Gaúcho’s goal that put us ahead, he was sent off and we had to hold on to our one goal advantage for over 30 minutes. But we were very strong in that tournament and it wouldn’t have been easy for England to beat us even without Ronaldinho’s magic.

Yes, England had a great team in that competition and could have battled for the title if they beat us, but we were very confident and united. After all, we ended up bringing our fifth world title back to Brazil.

Neymar needs to win a World Cup to silence Brazilian critics

Neymar is have a brilliant career but he continues to receive some criticism from his own country and it’s tough to really understand why that’s still happening.

He is a fantastic player and a world reference from the Brazilian football, but this is something that always happens in Brazil and I also suffered with it in certain moments of my career.

Things only improved when I won the 2002 World Cup and since then I received great recognition from Brazilian people. As an ex-player and current Brazilian supporter, I can only hope that Neymar manages to guide Brazil to World Cup success in 2022 in Qatar.

That seems to be the only way to silence critics in Brazil. We are a very demanding people because we’ve always had magnificent players and national teams.