At the Parc des Princes,
Immediately evacuate the sportsman. Two depressed teams for very different reasons – PSG have their problems as rich, Bordeaux as poor – offered a sad spectacle at the predictable epilogue (3-0, goals from Mbappé, Neymar and Paredes). In the end, and to use the words of the Auteuil corner after Kylian Mbappé’s opener, we were fighting our balls over what could happen on the lawn of the Parc des Princes on Sunday afternoon. It’s no disrespect to anyone to say that, it’s a fact. The PSG season sank into emptiness the minute its scuttling in Madrid was recorded and that of Bordeaux never started. The only interest of the day therefore resided in the reaction of the Parisian supporters and more precisely of its ultras after this new exploit upside down in the Champions League. Verdict, we were not disappointed.
The most teasing will say that the 12th man, unlike his team, has a taste for big meetings. The Auteuil bend did not let up when it came to keeping the promise of a hostile atmosphere. Angry supporters had planned everything from whistles to chants to throwing toilet paper on the lawn, old fashioned. Small regret for the last part of the plan: the PQ having passed the security, it did not see the light of day. There were still white handkerchiefs as a last resort, but using a Spanish football gimmick just after being beaten by Real, blah.
Mbappé and Mendes spared, Messi and Neymar booed
The club did what it could to stifle the hostile surge from the stands, within the limits of its means. That is to say that after having completely screwed up the stadium’s sound system when the players entered the lion’s den, there was nothing left to prevent the whistles and insults, already very present at the announcement of the Parisian composition.
Apart from Nuno Mendes and Kylian Mbappé, who were warmly applauded, the other players were snubbed. The French striker even had a moment of jubilant contemplation in the second half. Alone at the penalty spot, waiting with the ball in hand for the decision of the VAR, Mbappé receives the strong tributes of grateful supporters. Neymar and Messi (not forgetting Leonardo and Nasser Al-Khelaïfi) also received preferential treatment, but in the other direction, the one where your eardrums bleed under the effect of the whistles. Two rooms, two atmospheres.
Pochettino defends Messi and Neymar
A variable geometry wrath denounced by Mauricio Pochettino after the meeting, at the microphone of Canal +. “For me, it’s unfair. We all deserve this anger from the fans, not just Messi and Neymar. “A bit cheeky from a man who did not dare to venture into his technical area all match to collect his share of the spoils. Let’s not throw stones at the Argentinian, there was something to freak out about. How many pairs of Parisian legs did we feel tremble, how many jaws did we hear snapping from the first minutes of the first period, when each Parisian ball was booed and each Bordeaux pass crowned with a ” oooooool”?
The irony here is that Paris owes the good performance of its day to several authoritarian interventions by its goalkeeper – Navas in place of Donnarumma – at the start of the match, when everything threatened to go down the drain. At the time of writing, lovers of alternate history probably imagine Marquinhos lifting the Champions League in their fictional world where San Keylor would have been established in Madrid. But here we digress.
Kimpembe understands “hate and shouting”
There was still courage on the Parisian side, Sunday. Panache, even. Total prostration in front of Thilo Kehrer. The German has been roomed as not allowed since the day he signed for Paris, has no responsibility for the European failure but still devotes himself to being part of the trio that will get closer to the rabid fans. The small group is led by Presnel Kimpembe who applauds and apologizes timidly, before turning around.
“We understand their disappointment necessarily, we understand their hatred and their cries, said the defender at the microphone of Prime Video. Now we are professional, you have to know how to remain so too, it is now that you have to raise your head and be able to move forward in order to be able to win this Ligue 1. ”The championship, the last branch to cling to. Apart from that, nothing: neither Champions League, nor Coupe de France, nor support.