Eye to eye
From Nice to Paris via Monaco, Lens, Lyon and Rennes, the bridge that spans winter and spring prolongs the thrill of a string of meetings that are so many invitations to put the Meinau in all its states. All the fine linen, or almost, is left on our doorstep, it is the promise of endless vertigo, the evidence that we will no longer go to the stadium other than attracted by the legend and the light.
We can no longer hide from it: Racing is also in the spotlight. His fifth place, in the middle of the gratin, built in talent and generosity, owes nothing to anyone. The photo of the moment shows him, smiling and relaxed among the others for whom the weight of deadlines makes faces less carefree.
They all come to Alsace with a truckload of obligations, specifications defined in advance in which it is written that France would not be a sufficient framework for contentment. Their destiny is European otherwise it will be a failed season. They all come to Alsace to glean the points necessary for the project, relating to the sum of their investments.
One after another they arrive. And Racing is waiting for them, with no other ambition than to push its adventure as far as possible, piecemeal, come what may. He has the right, today, to look them in the eye and it is already the shadow of a miracle. He will challenge them, one after the other, rub shoulders with them, respond to the call of the summits and their dazzling.
Monaco is the last winter host, after a sun-drenched week, in a full stadium, filled in advance, crossed by the fervor and the feeling that, really, this year, we must expect everything and above all do not s prohibit anything.
It’s a huge thing, this match that could well go in all directions, a surge of waves on the defenses, after a week where we learned a lot about the fragility of a match and a tactic, of the calamity emerging from a single error, of this realism which is talked about so much but which is indeed the heart of the debate.
Monaco learned this the hard way at Braga, losing 2-0 in a match where they dominated their opponents and destroying chances. At this time, ASM should already have a foothold in the quarter-finals of the Europa League.
Racing has just experienced that too, against Nice and Reims. The outcome of a wonderful Sunday will perhaps be there, hanging on two or three successful gestures, a few centimeters more or less, a little luck perhaps, the thickness of a post, a lost second.
This Sunday, at 3 p.m., Racing will also say to itself and will have to say that a victory would put Monaco six points behind and allow it to stay, ten days from the end, in the Top 5, or even better. And there, all the same, our guys, we know them, they’re going to throw themselves on this thing like hungry people.