At the Parc des Princes,
In periods of doubt that can accompany anyone, these moments when everything seems to go to hell, fortunately there are still unchanging things to hold on to so as not to completely sink. The day is breaking, the broken metro line 7 or the inability of the PS to rebuild itself, for example. In football, it is PSG’s ability to renew itself every year in the way of being ejected from the Champions League.
From Lolo Blanc’s 3-5-2 against City to Barça’s comeback, from drowning in 5 minutes at the Bernabeu to the liquefaction against Manchester United B, the Parisians have never forgotten to be in good shape. This year, there’s room for overplayed confidence which leads to wind.
Parisians have often been criticized in recent years for exuding a certain fear before these tough meetings. This time, with the commander Lucho Enrique on the baton, none of that. Serenity you want, calm in all circumstances, a miniature statue of the Dalai Lama in the locker room, in short, an extreme assurance of winning, spread by all strata of the club, from management to players. A little pre-match anthology:
- Luis Enrique: “We will win. This is the only sentence I know in French. We will win. »
- Mbappé: “We are sure that we will recover this score and that we will qualify for the final. »
- Nasser who would “tear out the seats” in the stands if he could to create even more atmosphere (while the Boulogne stand has been condemned to silence for a long time).
- Rumors that the CUP was negotiating with management for “an invasion of controlled terrain” after qualification.
Obviously, there was controversy all over the networks after the final whistle. In our mind, we have the image of a boxer who speaks loudly and goes after his opponent face to face with a pitbull look during the weigh-in and who gets knocked out in the first round the next day.
IF the incandescent atmosphere announced by the supporters was indeed there, the players did not meet expectations. So, is this PSG too confident? The theory is refuted by Kylian Mbappé. ” No way. If we don’t convince ourselves that we can win, who will do it for us? Nobody, replies the Kyks. So no, I don’t think that’s the problem. The group was calm, now it’s football, we haven’t put in all the ingredients we need to get to the final. »
Luis Enrique “enchanted” by the two matches…
Ok. The fact remains that in all the post-match reactions that we heard, there was a gap between the speeches and what we saw on the pitch. Paris generally did not live up to the event, this Tuesday as in the first leg last week. Not enough intensity, bite, ideas, while coming across this Borussia at this stage of the competition was a blessing. Listen to what Luis Enrique says:
“ I am very satisfied with both matches. They did what I asked. I loved the spirit of my team. You can’t blame her for having unwavering faith, I’m very proud of her. I am delighted with the attitude and behavior of my players. » »
That a coach protects his players, agreed, but he would still have the right to admit certain deficiencies in the content of this double confrontation without risking the court. This is quite usual for the Spaniard, we have seen it several times this season, after the broths taken in Newcastle and Milan for example. But this idea that PSG were vastly superior to Dortmund simply because they hit the post or bar 4 times and camped in the opposing camp on the energy of desperation in the last 20 minutes of a home return match was served by all the actors.
“He lacked efficiency. They scored two goals, one from a corner and another from deep (on the first leg), in a phase that we had worked on. These are small details, summarized Marquinhos just after the meeting at the Canal microphone. We created a lot more chances than them, but they were effective in both confrontations. There are a lot of good things to come from this match and this competition. »
A little later, President Nasser Al-Khelaïfi invited himself to the mixed zone to say how fantastic his team had been. “We are very disappointed, sad with the result. I think we deserved better, he said. We really thought we had the right to go to the final, we were better as a team. »
Saying it afterwards, as before, is not enough. This PSG, it is true very young (24 years old on average on Tuesday, a record in the semi-final since Arsenal in 2009), lacked marrow, like this campaign which saw it lose five times, despite a not very happy hen and a gift draw afterwards. The players, however, come out with the feeling “of having left everything on the pitch, given everything”, as Fabian Ruiz said.
Condemned to the glass ceiling?
Inevitably, after this new failure, the ambition of Paris’ QSI version of winning the Champions League still raises questions. “We had a new project with a new coach. You shouldn’t throw everything away,” says Marquinhos. Anyway. It is difficult to be satisfied with this argument of the “new project” which comes up regularly when the owner has been installed for 13 years now, with massive investments involved. Its status and its workforce should have been guarantees to overcome this obstacle.
Is it less of a bitter failure to be knocked out in the semi-final by the 5th in the Bundesliga without having managed to score a single goal than in the 8th final by Real Madrid or Bayern Munich, like in recent years? Is PSG doomed to hit their heads on a damn glass ceiling in this competition? Like his captain, Vitinha believes this is just “the beginning”. Next season will be a fresh start from the beginning, then, since we will have to replace Kylian Mbappé.