Ahead of the Champions League clash between Paris Saint Germain and Newcastle United this week, the French media have been trying get all the angles they can.
Outlet France Bleu held an interview with Laurent Robert and Yohan Cabaye, who expect the two sides to get through the group stage this season.
The former winger was the first to speak, and talked about how great Newcastle fans are.
“I can assure you that for me the most striking thing was the communion with the fans in this stadium. The atmosphere is great. The fans would warn us if there was someone coming up behind us, if we hadn’t picked up the information beforehand, we’d drop the ball quickly. It’s a real 12th man on the pitch, I haven’t experienced that anywhere else.”
Cabaye said something similar: “You get the feeling that the club occupies a major, if not central, place in the town. It’s their whole life there. Some people work so that they can go on holiday, but at Newcastle they work so that they can go to football. As an anecdote, we’re playing a friendly in a small stadium against a team from the fourth division and we’re playing in front of 6,000 Newcastle fans. Incredible!”
Laurent Robert joined PSG in a move from Montpellier in 1999, and two years later, was bought by Newcastle in a €14.3m deal.
The Magpies were the club he played the most for, with 181 appearances, getting 32 goals and 53 assists. He left the club first on a loan to Portsmouth, and then ended up being released and joining Benfica.
Cabaye took the opposite direction. He first joined Newcastle in a move from Lille in 2011, and in January 2014, PSG spent €15m on his signing. His time in Paris didn’t last long, though, as he was back in the Premier League in the following year.