PSG player Rene Paredes struggling with Kheira Hamraoui – STEFANO RELLANDINI / AFP
At Camp des Loges,
Off the field, the support of Mauricio Pochettino and the presence of Presnel Kimpembe and Roxana Maracineanu – who could not help but compare girls and boys at the microphone of beIN at half-time. On the lawn, a level of play that meets expectations. Everything indicated that PSG was playing Sunday afternoon in a Champions League semi-final against one of the best teams in the world. Except the place.
Because Perle Morroni may well thank the PSG institution after the match for its unwavering support, she perhaps forgets a little too quickly that it deprived the women’s team of a C1 half at the Parc des Princes to leave the lawn at rest on the sidelines of that of the boys against Manchester City. The message sent is terrible, especially for a club which is pleased to attach major importance to its women’s section.
Spanish bad faith
It was therefore necessary to fall back on the Camp des Loges, set up scaffolding for the broadcasters’ cameras and improvise a press platform where journalists and staff coexisted in a joyful atmosphere of the Coupe de France. With automatic watering option in the mouth before kick-off and during half-time. Other than that, all is well, a supporter tries to scratch the friendship with us to try to come back, the weather is nice, whatever, the wind sometimes blows a little too strong. The Parisians hurry from the kick-off, Lawrence hurts the Catalan defenders but it is the Parisian rearguard who is the first to catch a cold. Hermoso took advantage of a lax marking and Endler’s generosity – incidentally heroic the rest of the time – to open the scoring with a header.
In the stands, the Barça camp exults. With them, the volume is always on full blast. Goal ? It yells. Small fault? It yells. Big mistake? It yells. No penalty? It yells. Note also that the counter of penos not whistled by the referee is not the same with us as outside the Pyrenees and that, strangely, the Spanish clan was particularly not very talkative when Lawrence was being cut up. entry to the area after a slalom like Clément Noël in the defense of Barça. Lluís Cortes, Blaugrana coach: “the two penalties, I saw them like you. In the stands, they even counted three. We can almost speak of apparitions.
Not a bad result
The attitude is all the more annoying as Barcelona leaves the Yvelines with a favorable result after having dominated the debates (especially at the end of the match) as Cortes does not fail to recall. “We have the feeling that we could have scored more. But Paris also had two or three clear chances so it’s hard to say what would have been the fairer result. “Olivier Echouafni will say no less at a press conference when discussing the” lack of efficiency “of his team after the meeting. Because if Endler has often saved his with Keylor Navas in the text, Katoto was extremely kind to miss the 2-1 twice in 90 seconds flat. First at the 42nd (post), then at the 43rd (just missing the frame).
“It is one of the things to be corrected before the return,” insists Echouafni. That, and the quality of the block in a defensive position. But the coach of Paris Saint-Germain also knows how to salute the self-sacrifice of a group capable of withstanding the flood of offensives despite the legs which weigh three tons under the impact of the chain of high-flying matches. Barely eight days ago, his players eliminated OL. “Obviously, it leaves traces. But that’s not a bad result at all. It may be better than the first leg against Lyon (0-1). The Parisians, who hope to recover Kadidiatou Diani for the return, have only one week before them before returning to the front. Ah, and before we finish, it seems that the pitch at Camp Nou is also very fragile since the match will be played at the Johan Cruyff stadium. Definitely …