At the Parc des Princes,
The scene, mind-blowing from start to finish, reminds us the legendary sketch Unknowns parodying “Stade 2”, when Didier Bourdon, who then plays the role of a football club owner, arrives at the edge of the lawn to replace the coach and rot the players. Sunday, against Losc, while his team was quietly heading for a fourth defeat in a row in all competitions – something we had not seen at PSG since 2000, under Bergeroo, when the club Parisian did not know how to place Qatar on a world map – Luis Campos, the Portuguese sports adviser, left the Parc des Princes basket to join Christophe Galtier and his staff on the bench.
If the act has nothing crazy in itself, the latter being authorized by the regulations of the LFP to follow the meeting “in the first rows of the stand located behind the bench, and as close as possible to it. here, in places reserved for this purpose”, it is the behavior of Campos which questions. Indeed, he did not hesitate to enter the technical area reserved for Christophe Galtrier in order to harangue the players, great gestures of the arms in support, before belching on the liberating free kick of Leo Messi and come and celebrate, angry fist forward, in front of an LFP official. Before that, according to a colleague from RMC SportsLuis Campos let his rage burst out by inveighing and running behind the linesman after a foul not whistled on a Parisian player.
Galtier evokes the “passion” of Campos
Asked at a press conference after the meeting, the Parisian coach tried, with varying degrees of success, to clear the bomb. “I am in front (at the edge of the field), so I do not see what is happening behind, he assured. Of course, there are images circulating… Luis is passionate, a competitor thirsty for victory. And what does that denote? It shows a great desire to succeed collectively. Luis is part of the technical and sports management, it doesn’t pose any problem for me since there is no intervention on a technical-tactical level. There is passion, passion, passion. »
Nevertheless, seeing the sports adviser of a club tumbling like that as close as possible to the lawn, almost replacing his coach, is not common. What does that denote, to use the words of Galette? It denotes the crazy state of tension that seems to reign in the man who arrived last summer in the role of savior at PSG, and who has since continued to disappoint after two failed transfer windows in the great widths.
Descended last week in the Parisian locker room at halftime of the match against Monaco to push a mouthful, Luis Campos does not hesitate to walk on the flowerbeds of Christophe Galtier, who refutes for his part any idea of ”interference from his colleague and friend. “In Monaco, there was no interference at all, repeated the Parisian coach in the auditorium of the Parc des Princes. There was nervousness, anger, but no interference. »
The controversy swells, Campos turns into silence
Will Galtier’s words be enough to calm things down? Nothing is less sure. On the set of the “Canal Football Club”, the former footballer and current consultant Olivier Dacourt lit the first wick by speaking of nothing more or less than a “scandal”. “Everyone has to stay in their place. That never happens at big clubs. It puts Galtier in overhang, plague the former midfielder of Inter. But where are we? It is a disavowal. Passion ? But everyone is passionate, it’s not just him. That’s not an excuse. »
Same tone on the side of Habib Beye, the Red Star coach/consultant for the encrypted channel. “It’s impossible to see a leader come in front of the coach. And this is not the first time. Against Monaco and Angers, it was already the case. At some point, the leaders must stay in their place, he explained on the set of the “CFC”. We cannot validate this behavior. He is not even an employee of PSG. »
Seen by our colleague from France Bleu Paris in the corridors of the Parc des Princes after the meeting, Luis Campos did not wish to speak officially to the press, explaining that it was “not the time to speak, but the time to work “. In joy and good humor, no doubt.