And if Marseille has become the terrible week of Parisians?
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For Kylian Mbappé and PSG, this beginning of October is particularly difficult. And this while the reception of OM is on the program this Sunday evening (photo prize at the reception of Benfica, October 11).
FOOTBALL – When Paris Saint-Germain was not yet a billionaire superpower in world football, the club had a tradition of its own: the ” november crisis “. A time of year when poor results and extra-sporting problems regularly speak of PSG. And this year, it looks like all that know-how has been condensed into a week.
Thus, at the dawn of the great classic of the French championship of the first division against Olympique de Marseille, this Sunday October 16 at 8:45 p.m. at the Parc des Princes, it is an understatement to say that the club of the capital arrive shaky.
In recent days, Paris Saint-Germain has first seen in the press the desire to leave its star striker Kylian Mbappé, visibly exhausted by unkept promises and the bad relationship with certain teammates including Neymar. One after the other, the various media that control the striker’s career and the club’s daily newspaper have thus published articles relaying the young man’s discomfort and his disappointment with his leaders. And that less than six months after a fanfare extension, a snub to Real Madrid and the idea that the native of Bondy was staying to bring PSG the first Champions League in its history.
Army of trolls and results at half mast
And that was just the front of the squadron. Because a few days later, while the club’s sports adviser Luis Campos was trying to put out the fire of the rumor, Mediapart in turn published a damning article. In this paper, we learn in particular that the club has commissioned a communication agency to massively harass online and denigrate some of its own players. Not Mbappe.
And that without even mentioning the low level of play for several meetings, with in particular two draws against the Portuguese Benfica in the Champions League and one (0-0) quite poor in Reims. A climate which has the consequence of thus straining the environment of the club, between disillusioned supporters and a coach, Christophe Galtier, who continues to lose his nerves in the face of the press, he who has already been noticed in recent months by his avoidable exit on the sand yacht.
🗣 Galtier’s big rant. “You never talk to me about football! (…) I have a lot of faults, but I am… https://t.co/M9iv6m7CQg
– RMC Sport (@RMCsport)
Especially since at the end of this infernal week, it is anything but a harmless match which is offered to PSG at the conclusion of the 11th day of Ligue 1. Indeed, the Parisians welcome Olympique de Marseille, a historic rival who arrives in full confidence in the capital.
The positive spiral of OM
Because unlike PSG, which had succeeded in a smashing month of August before gradually plunging, OM kept going up in speed. Coach Igor Tudor, whistled by some of the supporters even before his first game because they did not have enough CV to put down his suitcases in the Bouches-du-Rhône, silenced the critics and succeeded in provide an effective game. As proof: while Paris broke their teeth on Benfica, OM beat Sporting Portugal twice in the Champions League.
Thus, while Paris remained on a single defeat in 25 games against OM (0-1 at the Parc des Princes in September 2020), the dynamic of the moment may not inspire confidence. “ We know it will be a difficult match but we are in a good period, which has been going on for a while “, has already warned Igor Tudor to AFP, well aware despite everything that the injured Parisian beast has a plethoric workforce and that it is capable of a start this Sunday.
Which obviously did not prevent Marseille from believing in his luck, maintaining his style of play and trying to press on the faults in Paris. ” We only have to think about how to play. Points and ranking are a consequence. That’s the wise way to look at it adds Igor Tudor. Calm and placidity, quite the opposite of the Parisian fury of recent days.
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