Jerome Rothen says PSG won't miss injured Achraf Hakimi vs. Bayern Munich. 'Warren Zaïre-Emery is a better defender one-on-one,' he claims.
Despite the new injury to Achraf Hakimi, already ruled out for the Champions League semifinal return leg against Bayern Munich next week, Jerome Rothen is not at all worried about PSG.
For the first time since the start of the season, Luis Enrique was able to count on a full squad to face Bayern Munich in the Champions League semifinal on Tuesday (5-4).
That will not be the case next week for the return leg at the Allianz Arena, since the Spanish coach will notably have to do without Hakimi, 27, back on the injury list for several weeks.
Suffering from a "hamstring tear" in his right leg at the end of the match against Bayern, the Moroccan will therefore not be able to help his club qualify for another Champions League final.
A real blow for Luis Enrique, who loses one of his best players at the worst possible time. Despite everything, Hakimi's absence is not so serious for PSG, according to Jerome Rothen, who believes that Warren Zaïre-Emery will do the job perfectly in Munich next Wednesday.
"Hakimi not being there, it's not the first time this season. He had a complicated year with that ankle injury against Bayern in November. He struggled to come back, but found a very good level. He had a very good match against Munich on Tuesday, as he did against Liverpool and Chelsea in the previous rounds," Rothen began saying.
"He is an important element of Luis Enrique's system, but since he has been absent for much of this season, Zaïre-Emery has relaunched himself. In his role as right-back, he has been brilliant; he likes duels, so he is a good defender, and he is intelligent. So it's not a big deal to see Zaïre-Emery at right back, especially when you see Bayern's strategy, which will have to score goals. They will harass PSG's defense. And defensively, I trust Zaïre-Emery more than Hakimi, who is a great counter-attacker."
"But for defending one-on-one, I think Zaïre-Emery is superior to Hakimi. So his absence is not problematic, since Zaïre-Emery is there, and Ruiz will do the job in midfield well rested," said the RMC consultant on the show Rothen s'enflamme, who therefore believes that the French international will be more useful to PSG than Hakimi would have been against a team as strong offensively as Bayern."
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