Exclusive: Rami explains how to defend Mbappe, but why Dembele would be harder

Editor’s note: this interview with Adil Rami was conducted by Martin Mosnier for Eurosport France in a Q&A format, and then translated and written by Pete Sharland for TNT Sports

World Cup winner Adil Rami believes that proximity is the key when it comes to defending Kylian Mbappe – but he actually thinks that stopping his PSG team-mate Ousmane Dembele is harder.

Mbappe and Dembele form part of a lethal attacking trident for PSG, with the duo often out wide with either Randal Kolo Muani or Goncalo Ramos leading the line, albeit Mbappe has sometimes played centrally too.

First, he was asked about who would be the most difficult to defend between Mbappe, Dembele and Marseille striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

“That’s a good question,” Rami said.

“First off, all three are very, very fast, but I’d say Dembele.

“Because the problem with him is that he can use both feet, his ball control is exceptional, and he’s the best dribbler of the three, so he’s the most challenging.

“In the box, we know he’s not a player who shoots a lot. Once you realise that and keep it in your mind while defending, it’s easier not to dive in and wait for the right moment.”

OK, so if Dembele is the hardest that still begs the question: how would you defend Mbappe?

“Either you stick to him tightly and use your strength with your arms to prevent him from accelerating away from you, or you stay ahead of him,” Rami explained.

“It depends on where you are on the field with him. When you’re very high up, you shouldn’t stick to him because of the space in behind.

“But in the box, or as soon as you get closer to the final third, you have to be very close before he bursts away from you.”

Rami lists Mbappe as one of the toughest players he’s played against alongside Eden Hazard: “He was tough too. He was very strong. They don’t have the same qualities. I don’t like to compare.”

But the strongest? “It’s Messi. It was impressive. We needed several players to defend against him when he was at his peak. And just when we thought we had him, he’d make the right pass to Pedro, who would finish every time. It was… Phew…”

On Mbappe, Rami said that he thought he had seen it all at the 2018 World Cup but has been blown away with the progress the forward has made since then.

“At first, when I saw him, I didn’t think he could surprise us anymore, but his talent progressed incredibly fast, along with his communication and maturity,” he said.

“He has the complete package that has accompanied him from the beginning to the end.

“Where he has really progressed is in the penalty area. All his shooting techniques are incredible. He can anticipate. He analysed the goalkeepers, the defenders… He adapted his game to all parameters.

“He saw how the defenders and goalkeepers moved, how they reacted to his techniques… He understood everything with great intelligence. He knows how to make the right move at the right time. It’s a huge progression.”

It’s not just the attackers that Rami likes at PSG, saying that although captain Marquinhos has “had a difficult period, when I see PSG without him, I lose it.

“You don’t take Marquinhos away from me. He calms, he talks, he has a good presence, good communication, and he makes his team-mates around him better.

“What he does well is his communication in prevention. When PSG attacks, when the ball is on the opposite side, he’s always there, regrouping his defenders and placing his pawns as needed to avoid disaster. People don’t see it, but preventive marking is crucial.”

Rami is a big fan of PSG manager Luis Enrique too, saying that he “prefers having this Paris over the Paris of previous years” and talked about how Enrique has tidied up the dressing room and can see the plan.

“There were more stars [in the past],” he explained. “It was beautiful, but much less respect for this shirt, for the colours of PSG. It’s sad, it’s a shame for football and for Parisians.

“Today, there may be fewer talents, but there is much more discipline and much less ego. There is more effort, and I find it more coherent. It’s the beginning, but if Paris doesn’t change coach and has a good transfer window this summer… It’s a logical project and one that I quite like.”

So much so that he predicts that PSG could go all the way in the UEFA Champions League.

But what of Marseille? The south-coast club have recovered well to get back up to seventh in the league but it’s still been a difficult season.

He thinks that Jean-Louis Gasset’s willingness to be more of a man-manager is what the team needed, but points out that there is more to him than that.

“The players needed to be put in the best positions. Today, it’s important as a coach to be able to make your tactical choices, to explain a certain style, and at some point, you’re not going to change the players, you recruited them for their qualities,” he added.

“So, you have to put them in the best conditions for them to express themselves. That’s the most important ting. Of course, there’s a form of respect to have and there must be suffering, combativeness and unity.

“But then, if I were a coach, I would let everyone on the field have freedom. The most complicated thing today is to be simple and logical. Gasset is very good at that. Ego, it drags everyone down and slows things down.

“We tend to caricature him as a coach who’s all about hugs without tactical sense. But he’s not just that.

“He loves his players, he’s close to them – already in my time as a player, he loved everyone, didn’t criticise anyone – but when he pounds the table, I saw it, he doesn’t joke around.

“He won’t tell you what to do. No, he lets his players express their qualities. But if, on lost balls, the player doesn’t make an effort, then it’s different. You have to help your team and your family, otherwise it won’t work.”