PSG duo focusing on second Dinamo scalp
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
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After a 2-0 away win, Christophe Jallet and Jérémy Ménez hope Paris Saint-Germain FC can reinforce their position in Group A when they play GNK Dinamo Zagreb again.
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Paris Saint-Germain FC captain Christophe Jallet said it was "mission accomplished" after the Ligue 1 leaders triumphed 2-0 at GNK Dinamo Zagreb in Group A. However, PSG will not rest on their laurels and midfielder Jérémy Ménez has targeted victories from both the French club's remaining home games. Dinamo defender Josip Šimunić admitted his side were lucky to escape with only a two-goal defeat, but feels they will be "wiser" when the teams meet again at the Parc des Princes on UEFA Champions League matchday four.
Jérémy Ménez, PSG midfielder
Above all it was a great team performance. Against teams like that, where everybody's defending, it's not easy and the first goal is always the hardest one to score. Once we'd scored that then there was more space for us and we made the most of it.
We played well in the first half. We needed to score early and we managed to put our second or third chance away. It was important for us to win. We'll host them in the next game and we need to take the three points there as well. It's too early to say it's us and Porto battling for first place because there are still three games to play. We've got two home games left and we need to win them both.
Christophe Jallet, PSG captain and defender
It's mission accomplished as we've won the game and kept a clean sheet, even if we could have made things easier for ourselves by scoring more goals. If we win at home to Dinamo then we'll have nine points and things will be looking good for the qualification. Only after that will we be able to concentrate on trying to top the group and the potential head-to-head with Porto.
We played high up the pitch and with a lot of intensity from the start. They had some counterattacks but we negotiated them well. More space opened up after the first goal, but they tried to shut up shop in the second half. Even then we could have scored more goals, but we're satisfied with 2-0. We can still improve, though, and we'll only be truly satisfied when we achieve the goal of qualifying.
Josip Šimunić, Dinamo defender
At the end of the day we lost 2-0, and we were lucky that it was only 2-0 and not more. Paris Saint-Germain are a big club, a very rich club and just the fact that we made the Champions League is a big achievement in itself. We've got a lot of young players who are very inexperienced and who are learning. In the future we'll be better and through games like this we will improve. Again it will be hard when we go to their place, but we've got to know them tonight and in the second game in Paris we'll be wiser at the start.
Sammir, Dinamo midfielder
We played very well in the first 30 minutes and we played as we planned to. After Ibrahimović scored the opening goal we were sunk. Actually, the result is not so bad when you consider the PSG team is worth more than €300m. Our future now is in the Croatian league, not the Champions League, but in the remaining European games we will fight and whatever will be will be.