CHRISTOPHER JULLIEN is determined to make sure Paris Saint-Germain do not get the perfect tune-up for Friday’s French Cup Final against St Etienne.
Neymar and Co are preparing for their first tilt at silverware this season and have been going goal crazy in their previous two friendlies with a 9-0 trouncing of second-tie Le Havre and a 7-0 walloping of Belgian outfit Waasland-Beveren.
Former Toulouse defender Jullien, who arrived at the Hoops in a £7million switch last summer, is adamant the nine-in-a-row champions will not be cannonfodder for the French title holders.
The towering centre-back, speaking to the Daily Record, said: “It’s always a big stage when you play against PSG. Whenever we came here with Toulouse it was prime time because they have so many individual stars.
“It will be a great game for us to be on the pitch with them. At the end of the day, it’s a game of football, but we are going to enjoy the show.
“The two previous games we have played (against Nice and Lyon) have been tough and they can help us in terms of experience for the season. We are preparing for a big season and we want to win as many games as we can.
“All the work we are doing now is to get it right for the next few weeks.”
Jullien added: “I would say PSG are among the top five teams in the world right now. When they have their strongest XI out, maybe even the best in the world.
“They are top class. It will be really tough, but it will be a good test for us in terms of the level we are at.
”How do you stop these guys? You can’t! Especially Neymar, as he is so versatile.
“He appears everywhere. He can attack from either side of the pitch and it makes it difficult for midfielders and defenders.
“He is so dangerous if he finds some space, so we have to close the gaps as much as we can. But it will be difficult.
“When I played against them with Toulouse the games were pretty close – apart from Neymar’s first game for PSG.
“He was something else that day. You could see he wanted to show the city what he can do. He was just better than us by far.
“I was proud to win a couple of games against them, too, but even in those games it was far from easy.”
Neil Lennon’s men are preparing to crash the history books again with a phenomenal tenth successive and have drawn 1-1 with Patrick Vieira’s Nice and lost 2-1 to Lyon.
Odsonne Edouard is waiting for his first goal of the tour – Patryk Klimala and Mohamed Elyounoussi have done the honours so far – and this evening could be his opportunity to show his old PSG mates how much he has progressed since his £9million move to Parkhead in June 2018.
*DON’T miss the unbeatable match report from PSG v Celtic tonight – only in your champion CQN.
