Retired Bayern Munich defender Markus Babbel sat down with Get French FootballNews to preview his former team’s upcoming clash with Paris Saint-Germain.
Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich are meeting in the semis in a matchup that a lot of people wish was the final. Is that something you would have liked to see?
Yeah, I wish. For me, they’re the two most talented clubs at the moment. They play a really great style of football. Paris have a lot of quality, a lot of talent. Bayern Munich as well. Both teams are on the same level, and I’m really looking forward to this game because I can’t see a favourite. On the day, it’ll come down to who is in the better form and who has a bit of luck on their side. And who will win? I can’t see it at the moment.
When Real Madrid played Bayern Munich, I thought Bayern were the favourites. I saw Real Madrid a couple of times and thought, ‘OK, this is not a team.’ Of course, they have top players, but as a team, they are not working. So Bayern Munich were my favourites for it, because they’re a team. But Paris are also a team, and one with a lot of talent. Normally, this match would be a final, but now it’s a semi-final. It’s very sad to see one of these two teams are going out [laughing], but this is the route of the Champions League, and I’m really looking forward to it.
On current form, it feels like these are the two best teams left in the competition. Do you think that’s a fair statement?
At the moment, yes. Of course, don’t misunderstand me, Atlético Madrid and Arsenal have a lot of quality. And we saw Atlético against Barcelona. They have all these skills and ways to find a way to beat teams. And Arsenal have a lot of quality. They’re not in the best form at the moment. But their performance against Manchester City, phew, mamma mia, if they play like that in the semi-final, they’ll be a difficult team to play. But from the skill, from the talent, from the offensive football, Bayern Munich and Paris are the two best teams.
That doesn’t mean that who wins this game is the favourite in the final, because the final has its own logic. But if Bayern can beat Paris or Paris beat Bayern, this is a massive step, and gives you confidence for the final. But [we have to remember] it’s only one game, and Arsenal and Atlético are not easy to beat. This semi-final, I think, for every single football fan, is a highlight.
You can’t see a winner, but can you see areas of weakness for either Bayern or PSG?
I think both of them have so much attacking potential that at times they forget to defend. Real Madrid and Liverpool both put pressure on them, and you could see sometimes they were struggling a little at the back. That doesn’t mean their defenders are not good, because they’re all top class; it’s because the whole team wasn’t defending well. It’s because they want to attack, they want to create chances, they want to score goals. This is their mindset, and it’s the reason why they’re so attractive to watch, because they’re not just defending. Maybe I could say Atlético Madrid are great to watch because everyone wants to defend, and I was a defender! But as a fan, I prefer to watch Paris, I prefer to watch Bayern Munich because they always play forward. They go with the mindset in the game: How can we beat them? Where’s the weakness? And this is fantastic to watch.
And this is the reason why it’s difficult to say: Is Bayern Munich the favourite? Is Paris the favourite? Maybe it’s Paris. They won it last year. They have a mindset and know how to win the Champions League. Of course, Bayern Munich won it in the past, and their confidence is quite high. They’ve won the Bundesliga, and now there’s no pressure in the league anymore. So maybe they come with a lot of confidence to these two games. It will be a fantastic game. I’m really looking forward to it. Everyone was excited for Bayern Munich to play against Real Madrid, and I said, ‘Forget Real Madrid. This is not the Real Madrid from ten years ago.’ It’s a team with top individual players, but it’s not a team. But when I watch Paris, it’s fantastic, so skillful, so talented. Sometimes you don’t know what’s happened, because they’re so creative.
Michael Olise is the player that most people in France will have their eye on. It feels as if he has gone to another level since moving to the Bundesliga. Can you tell us a bit about how he has improved since joining Bayern?
I’m not sure if he’s stepped to the next level. This was the biggest surprise to me. I watch a lot of the Premier League. I saw him at Crystal Palace. And I was thinking, ‘Why is no one buying him? How good is he? Together with Eberechi Eze. These two are unbelievable. Why is a big club not coming and buying them?’ I think the biggest change for him is he’s playing with better players. Not everything is concentrated on him. You have Luis Díaz on the left, Harry Kane up front, and you have Jamal Musiala also. Not everything is focused on Olise. So if he’s not performing, hey, you have three other guys. I think that makes it so much easier for him. At Crystal Palace, if he wasn’t on form, they lost the game; if he was on form, they won the game. Everything was looking to go through him, and that was a lot of pressure on quite a young player. He’s not 30 years old, he’s still a young player. I think this is the biggest difference. He’s playing now with top players, and the focus is not 100% on him. He can play free.
In Germany, he wasn’t a big name for Bayern Munich supporters because he came from Crystal Palace. Everyone was like, ‘OK, we’ll have a look. But it was quite expensive. €60m is a lot of money. And a player from Crystal Palace?’ And I said, ‘Oh my god. How good is that? And how cheap is that?’ Because in a couple of years you’ll see that you’ll have to spend a €150-200m for him.
Markus Babbel was speaking exclusively to GFFN on behalf of BetWright, who have the latest Champions League odds.
GFFN | Nick Hartland
