A lot has been made of the European Champions Paris Saint-Germain's attacking flair, their fast and dangerous wing players and exciting style, but what they worn on Saturday by the Club World Cup-Halve Final was a dose of resilience.
The side of Luis Enrique defeated Bayern Munich 2-0 in Atlanta with only nine men at the end after late red cards for Willian Pacho and Lucas Hernandez.
PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma has made several good saves to help the French Treble winners by going to the last four, where they will meet a familiar face in Kylian Mbappe, Real Madrid.
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Captain Marquinhos said that the mentality of his team was vital to continue to add silverwork to their trophy cabinet.
“It was a game that taught us lessons, a game that brought us out of our comfort zone,” said the Brazilian defender reporters.
“(It showed) the mentality of our group, it's something we have a lot about – winning is very difficult and keeping winning is even more difficult.
“That is our mentality today, to show that we are always hungry, that we always want to continue.”
Luis Enrique explained that the work of his team contributed to their growing resilience in the past year.
“This goes back to the season we played, we suffered together … We have shown a real team spirit,” said the Spaniard.
“We can win, we can lose, we may have a draw, but our attitude, our actions are there.”
PSG won the Champions League for the first time in their history in May after a difficult run to the final, including a last 16 triumph over Liverpool.
Donnarumma was the hero when they deepened in Anfield Groeven and the side of Arne Slot in March, who were one of the favorites to win the trophy.
“We even went to Liverpool looking for a result – you need a very good mentality. Today again, with two fewer men, we were all on the field together, defended them as a team and helped each other outside,” said Marquinhos.
“When the (first) red card happened, I looked at my teammates and I saw that they were being pumped up to defend together.
“We spoke to each other, we said we will defend, we will not admit goals, this game is ours and we will defend hard to the end.
“I knew nothing would happen – we said that our team is very strong at the moment … It doesn't matter what is happening, we are ready.”
In fact, with PSG to nine men and led by the goal of Desire Doue, they stopped Bayern and added a second through Ousmane Dembele.
'At all times'
The Parisians were also impressed on Arsenal in the semi-final of the Champions League and resisted Mikel Arteta in the first stage to claim a hard-fought 1-0 win in the Emirates Stadium.
They fell down two goals in the semi-final of Coupe de France against Dunkerque, before they bounced back to win 4-2 on their way to claiming the trophy.
Luis Enrique said that his team had a “great capacity” to manage difficult moments after that cup in April, and the coach again praised his team to hold their strength to Bayern.
“It is a team that has resilience, our supporters, they have great resilience,” said Luis Enrique.
“We are a team that is ready to always compete, regardless of the result.”
Marquinhos said that the work of the former coach of Spain and Barcelona was an important reason to improve the mental power of the club.
Earlier PSG sides are littered with star names, but missed the Nous and Gruis for triumphing on the largest occasions.
“The key is our coach, he brought his philosophy, he brought his mentality with him, he prepared the team very well from the first day he arrived,” said Marquinhos.
“He wanted to improve the team mentally, to be ready for everything that can happen in a game …
“We went through it all season, bad moments when we didn't get any results, when we played well but didn't score.”
Bayern coach Vincent Kompany remembered the excessive criticism of Luis Enrique after the Germans defeated PSG in the Champions League with 1-0 in November.
However, after they overcome that hardship, among other things, to dominate Europe, with Inter Milan insisting in the most one -sided final in the history of the competition, few would bet they would conquer the world.
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