'Put the egos to one side' - Dani Alves and PSG's drive for Champions League glory

Dani Alves jokes that Paris Saint-Germain are still Champions League "virgins", but the presence of players like the decorated Brazilian only helps make them more credible contenders to win the coveted trophy.

In a glittering career, Alves has won the Champions League three times with Barcelona and reached another final with Juventus.

He is a veteran now, his 36th birthday falling several weeks before this season's final, and he is conscious of what players like him and goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, now 41, can add to a PSG squad already featuring Neymar and Kylian Mbappe.

"We know how to win and how to lose. What we try to transmit to the others is that either we all go together in the same direction, or we leave the doors open to a defeat," Alves tells AFP in an exclusive interview.

He is speaking at the club's training ground in the upmarket Paris suburb of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, 48 hours before their last 16, second leg at home to Manchester United.

The mood is relaxed, with confidence high in Paris that Thomas Tuchel's side will make good their 2-0 first-leg win last month, achieved without Neymar and Edinson Cavani, the two superstars both out injured.

"This is not a competition that depends only on one player having a spectacular day," he insists.

"When you have experienced players, you don't tremble when it comes to playing in a hostile atmosphere, or under pressure." -
'The right side dishes' -
==============
"Otherwise it would be like having a big meal without the right side dishes, and it wouldn't have the same flavour." But what dish would he be?
- A great year? -
===========
"We need to not let that show through, because then you stop thinking about being happy, and life is not about being right, it's about being happy!"