- Due to an injury in the semi-final of the Champions League, Keylor Navas, one of the heroes of the quarter-final against Atalanta, will not be able to play.
- If Sergio Rico, who plays instead of Navas, gets injured, gets a red card or has to leave the field for any other reason, Marcin Bułka will replace him.
- Rico will be one of the few nominal substitutes for PSG. Marco Verratti is yet to play among the main players.
Rico in Spanish means rich. While playing for PSG, Sergio Rico is certainly not poor, but the Spanish goalkeeper can say of himself that he is also rich in trophies. Still appearing in Sevilia, he won twice in the Europa League, with Paris Saint-Germain this season he added a triple crown in France. His contribution to winning these trophies, however, was moderate. He appeared in the league in only two games, in the French Cup in three and in the League Cup in two. In domestic cups, however, he defended in the earlier stages. In decisive games, coach Thomas Tuchel bet on Keylor Navas.
Now Rico is fighting for another trophy and can finally play a key role. All this because of the Costa Rican injury. Navas suffered an injury in the quarter-finals with Atalanta Bergamo (2: 1), he was replaced by the Spaniard and will play again today.
And if he gets injured, gets a red card or has to leave the field for other reasons, he will be replaced by Marcin Bułka. The Pole has played for the Paris club only once, a year ago in the league match with Metz (2: 0). In nine other games he was sitting on the bench, in the others he was outside the squad.
In the Champions League, there are as many as 12 players on the bench, unlike seven in other competitions, so the number three goalkeeper is also entered on the score sheet. In this role, Bułka came to Lisbon, but he was already promoted to the second place in the hierarchy, unfortunately due to his colleague’s bad luck. In any case, if something also happened to Rico and PSG could cope with today’s rival, Bułka could face Robert Lewandowski in the Sunday final. Unless Navas gets better, which is possible.
He fights for the future
For now, Rico is getting ready to play in the semi-finals. For him, it is not only a fight for the greatest success in his career, but also for his future. Golkiper is only on loan from Sevilla. The temporary transfer contract ended in June, but all parties agreed to extend it until August. Similarly, the Parisians got along with their players, whose contracts were to be valid until June 30 – Thiago Silva and the hero of the clash with Atalanta, the scorer of the winning goal, Erik Choupo-Moting. Parisians informed them that they did not intend to sign contracts for the new season, but offered a two-month extension of contracts. The players agreed, unlike Edinson Cavani, who didn’t want to play any longer.
But they have to think about the future and the tournament in Lisbon is a great opportunity for Rico to get the attention of other clubs. Leicester is most interested in him, willing to pay £ 8 million. Except that there he could face a similar fate as in Paris, i.e. the bench of substitutes, because Kasper Schmeichel is a sure thing. The Spaniard, however, would be the successor of the seven years older Dane.
Playing in the UK is nothing new for him. He spent the previous season on loan at Fulham, with which he was relegated from the league. He was number one in Seville for four years, but had to look for a new club after Tomaš Vaclik came.
So far, he has experienced the most beautiful moments in his career in Warsaw. It was in the capital of Poland that the final of the Europa League took place in 2015, when Sevilla won this trophy, defeating the Ukrainian Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk 3: 2 in the final (today the city is called the Dnieper). A year later, the team from Andalusia again triumphed in the Europa League, winning the Liverpool 3-1 final, but this time Rico did not have much of a share in this victory, because he was sitting on the bench in the entire edition of LE, although in La Liga he was the number one goalkeeper .
The return of Mbappe
Rico will be one of the few nominal substitutes for PSG. Marco Verratti is yet to play among the main players. After a pause, Angel Di Maria returns to the squad, but most of all Kylian Mbappe, who was convalescing after an injury in the French Cup final, may appear from the beginning. – He played half an hour with Atalanta and he has no problems with the ankle. If it is possible, he will play 90 minutes now – coach Thomas Tuchel announced.
Champions League: RB Leipzig – Paris Saint-Germain. Expected lineups
RB LIPSK
PARIS SAINT GERMAIN
Champions League semi-final at 21. Broadcast TVP 1, Polsat Sport Premium 1.
RB: Gulacsi – Klostermann, Upamecano, Halstenberg – Laimer, Sabitzer, Kampl, Angelino – Nkunku, Dani Olmo – Poulsen. [Trener:] Nagelsmann. Will not play: Heinrichs, Hwang (undeclared).
[PSG:] Rico – Kehrer, Thiago Silva, Kimpembe, Bernat – Marquinhos, Paredes, Gueye – Di Maria, Mbappe, Neymar. [Trener:] Tuchel. [Nie zagrają:] Navas, Verratti (injuries).
RB Leipzig – PSG: broadcast of the Champions League match online, live stream and tv
The Champions League semi-final match will take place on Tuesday, August 18 at 21:00 CET. The match was broadcast on TVP1, TVP Sport, Polsat Sport Premium 1 and on the internet on tvpsport.pl. Live coverage of the meeting of Polish champions will be conducted przegladsportowy.pl
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