One of the funniest anecdotes from the soccer catalog It was starred by the coach of Partick Thistle, Glasgow’s third team, always in the shadow of Rangers and Celtic.
In a Scottish League game in the 1992-93 season, Partick forward Colin McGlashan collided with an opponent and was stunned. The masseur ran to attend to him and took him out of the field. From the bench they asked how things were going. “You don’t know who it is!” The masseur yelled.
“Perfect, then tell him it’s Pelé and to go back to the field!”replied the coach, John Lambie.
Lambie was a kind of Brian Clough in a modest version, author of witty phrases that today they would be censored by the standard-bearers of political correctnessBut his idea of Pelé’s message has a depth that could be applied to the speech that Koeman will convey to his players today.
COME UP
It’s about believing yourself better than you really are for 90 minutes. It’s not about arrogance or arrogance, but to grow up against a theoretically more powerful rival, with more resources in the field and in the bank (but not in history or in the European hierarchy).
Within the game against PSG there will be another thousand games: one of them will be the pulse of confidence. That divided ball that wins the one who fights it the most, that sprint that can make the difference between a goal or a clearance, that meter of more or less that can begin to decide the tie. That’s where the head comes into play, and although Barça has no Pele other than Messi, it has resources to make life difficult for Paris Saint-Germain. It is a matter of believing it. And Koeman, who has been through situations of all kinds, seems the ideal coach to deliver that message.
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