Youth training coach: I have seen Yu Pa play as a forward because he has great energy and athletic ability

This Wednesday, Paris Saint-Germain will face Bayern at home in the Champions League stage. It will also usher in a duel between Dembele and Upamecano, two childhood friends. Their youth training coach talked about these two players in an interview with RMC.

Although they are opponents in the Champions League, Dembele and Upamecano are first of all childhood friends. They have known each other since Curie elementary school, and they are one year apart. Dembele, who is preparing for the World Cup, said with a smile in an interview in November 2022: "I played against him when I was in CM1-CM2 grade, and I always beat him."

Upamecano described in detail in an interview with the media: "Dembele and I live in the same neighborhood. We were in the same school, he was the captain of CM2 and I was the captain of CM1, we played on the concrete floor and I tackled him, and he won the whole school year."

The two national team members had different paths in their football careers as teenagers and had completely different personalities. Vincent Mendy, coach of Evler's reserve team, said: "Dembele is the kind of person who is gifted. His talent seems to be innate, while Upamecano achieved everything through hard work."

His colleague Gregory Bados added: "At the age of 12, we could foresee that Dembele might become a great player. A big player, because he is very different. Upamecano is different, he is very strong, his skills are still being learned, but he is very hardworking and rigorous. Dembele likes to make everyone happy."

Vincent Mendy described: "Upamecano really broke out at the U14-U15 stage. He's very tall, has great physical condition, and he can use that very well. We noticed that he is very good in terms of movement, game intelligence and breaking through defenses. We know that if we give him the opportunity, he can become a phenomenal player."

Gregory Bados recalled: "Upamecano can be a 12-year-old. He was playing for our youth B team and, instead, by the age of 14, we started to see him excel at the U16-U17 level. Interestingly, I also saw him playing as a forward because of his huge energy and athleticism! He was a monster mentally and a lot of people would have given up, but for me he was a real role model."