Messi vs. Mbappe? Koeman says Barça-PSG clash more than battle of the stars

Ronald Koeman spoke to the press on Monday ahead of Tuesday's huge Champions League game against Paris Saint-Germain. 

Barcelona welcome PSG to Camp Nou for the first leg of the last 16 tie on the back of a seven-game winning streak in La Liga and vastly improved since the draw was made in December. 

One of the suggestions made to Koeman was that the game is all about Lionel Messi against Kylian Mbappe, with Neymar injured, but the Dutch coach rejected that idea. 

Ha said: "It's not a duel between Messi and Mbappe. It's a game between two teams and one of those teams has the best player in the world, Messi, on their sude. We need him in his best form for the tie. 

"It's the same for Paris with Mbappe, who is a really good, quick player, who can make it hard for our defence. But it's nice, these players are to be enjoyed as a football fan." 

As for dealing with the threat of Mbappe, Koeman said he's not "in favour of man-marking players. We have to be ready to control his speed. When we have the ball we have to be well organised in defence if we lose it, that will be key." 

PSG have changed coaches since the draw, with Mauricio Pochettino replacing the sacked Thomas Tuchel, who has since ended up at Chelsea. 

"PSG have a really good side and it will be an interesting tie," Koeman added.

"We have improved and they have a lot of quality. Both games should be good. I think they will want to score (on Tuesday) because away goals are important, so keeping a clean sheet is important for us." 

Finally, on the absence of the injured Neymar, the Barça boss said: "Both teams have big players missing. I hope that he'll be back in a couple of weeks (for the second leg) to be able to see which team is better."  

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