Paris Saint-Germain coach Unai Emery on Wednesday urged his team to stay focused on completing an impressive UEFA Champions League group campaign after an “extraordinary” Neymar led a record-breaking win over Celtic.
PSG came from behind to slaughter the Scottish side 7-1 at a Parc des Princes in thrall to the Brazilian, who scored twice after Moussa Dembele had put Celtic ahead.
Edinson Cavani also netted a brace, while Kylian Mbappe, Marco Verratti and Dani Alves got the French club’s other goals to take them to a group-stage record tally of 24 with one Group B match still to play.
Photo: Reuters
The win was also PSG’s biggest ever in the competition, seeing off the previous best performance, a 7-2 win against Rosenborg BK in October 2000 when it was a 21-year-old Nicolas Anelka scoring twice.
Qualification for the round-of-16 was already assured before the game and Bayern Munich’s 2-1 win at RSC Anderlecht means the German side could yet snatch top spot from PSG with the sides meeting next month.
However, to do that Bayern would need to win at the Allianz Arena by a bigger margin than their 3-0 defeat in Paris in September, something that seems highly unlikely.
“The objective is to be first in the group and we are not there yet. We still have to play against Bayern and we have the advantage of the 3-0, but it will be a great match and a very difficult one,” Emery said.
The Spanish coach played down any fears of an embarrassing result similar to their 6-1 loss in Barcelona in the round-of-16 last season, which came after PSG had won the first leg 4-0, but said: “Bayern are capable of it. It will be a good test. They are among the sides who could win the Champions League.”
With Neymar back on song after a dip in form over the past six weeks, PSG can head to AS Monaco in confident mood this weekend knowing a win would move them nine points clear of the reigning champions at the top of Ligue 1.
The contrast between those sides could hardly be greater given Monaco were dumped out of Europe on Tuesday, losing 4-1 at home to RB Leipzig.
“Sunday’s game away at Monaco, whom we respect, will be a great test as well, but Bayern is the big match,” added Emery, before he sung Neymar’s praises. “He was extraordinary. There were a few matches where he stopped playing for different reasons, but when he is in form physically and his mentality is right, he can play.”
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