On Wednesday, Paris Saint-Germain lost 3-2 to FC Barcelona at the Parc des Princes in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League quarterfinal clash. Gianluigi Donnarumma was one of the players who had a forgetful night, and one former player believes that it’s all mental for the Italian.
Donnarumma had mishaps in the loss, and on Tuesday, the 25-year-old can redeem himself. Nonetheless, if the former AC Milan standout wants to be one of the heroes against the Catalan side, something needs to change mentally.
Former PSG goalkeeper Jérôme Alonzo gave his opinion on Donnarumma for L’Equipe and revealed his criticism aimed at the capital club shot-stopper.
“The Wednesday match surprised me,” Alonzo noted on the French media outlet (h/t Le10Sport). “I had seen him so strong for four months, especially mentally. I remember the match against Monaco (5-2, on November 24th) at the Parc des Princes. He made a glaring mistake before making an exceptional save just before halftime.
“That day, I thought we had turned a corner and that mentally, he had become very strong. But no. We all face errors, but I didn’t like his attitude against Barcelona. I saw a guy nervous as if it were his first Champions League match. He didn’t give any confidence to his defenders when he should have been the leader.”
Kylian Mbappé didn’t make much of an impact in the game, but with 90 minutes still to play, the outcome is far from settled. If the Parisians want to advance to the semifinals, they’ll need a good performance from Donnarumma and Mbappé, and if they don’t, it’s hard to envision PSG advancing.
More must-reads: