Mauricio Pochettino’s team is approaching the upcoming match not in the best emotional state. On Sunday, the Parisians hosted Nantes in the 29th round of Ligue 1 and were defeated with a score 1:2. During the match, the houses of PSG captain Marquinhos and midfielder Angel Di Maria were robbed. The football players’ relatives were at home at the time of the crime and became hostages. Di Maria was replaced during the match and immediately went home. And this is not the first time this happened in Paris. Over the past two years other players have also suffered from robbers: Sergio Rico, Thiago Silva and Eric Chupo-Moting. Therefore, the reigning champion and winner of the French Cup must have time to recover from the shock.
Atalanta made their way to the playoffs from a quartet with Liverpool, Midtjylland and Ayak, which was a good result for Gianpiero Gasperini’s charges. In the decisive duel the Bergamaski faced the main rival from the Netherlands and defeated Ajax with a minimal advantage (1:0). It is worth remembering that last season the Italian club managed to make it to the quarterfinals of the main club tournament in Europe. In Serie A guests started uncertainly, but managed to regain their concentration and ended up in the top five of the tournament. In 27 rounds the “provincial queen” was able to get 15 victories and drew seven times, which brought 52 points and the fourth position. The gap from the leader is already 13 points, which is practically unrealistic to reduce and enter the battle for the Scudetto, especially since on March 8, in a personal confrontation, the “goddess” lost to Inter (0:1). In the last game guests easily defeated Spezia (3:1), for which we made a prediction. Freuler, who is suspended and Hatebur, who is in the infirmary with a leg injury, will not be able to enter the field today.
