With a disdainful 1-1 draw against Lens, Paris Saint-Germain secured their tenth championship early. That doesn’t lift the spirits of the ultras. Many are already gone by the final whistle.
There was a spooky atmosphere in the Prince Park. When the final whistle sounded and Paris Saint-Germain’s tenth French championship was prematurely perfect, the Ultras had long since left the stadium. Protest instead of party.
The message from the frustrated supporters was again aimed at the club’s leadership and their transfer strategy. PSG drew thanks Lionel Messi due to the disdainful 1:1 against RC Lens with record champions AS St. Etienne, but felt only problems and a lot to work through.
Boycott the ultras
The early end in the Champions League against Real Madrid everything has been superimposed on the French capital club for weeks. His team have played in “surreal atmospheres” since then, said sports director Leonardo. “I don’t understand these things because in football you win and you lose,” said midfielder Marco Verratti about the fans’ boycott. “We always try, we try with all our hearts.” Top striker Kylian Mbappé showed more understanding. “If you want to celebrate, celebrate, if you don’t want to celebrate, don’t celebrate,” said the 23-year-old. But he also pointed out that the defeat against Real was more than a month ago.
For the fifth time in six years, PSG ended in the round of 16 of the premier class. 2020 had Paris lost the final against Bayern Munich. Despite horrendous investments in their squad, which is peppered with superstars, the Parisians are still waiting for the first win of the coveted handle pot. And apparently only that counts. Even the eight championships and six cup wins that the club has won since 2013 can hardly lift the spirits.
Fans set off fireworks and smoke bombs in front of the stadium on Saturday and shouted “We are PSG”, the newspaper “L’Équipe” reported. World champion Mbappé pointed out that the majority of supporters stayed in the stands. The minority does not represent all PSG supporters, he said. But your anger at the club leadership around Nasser Al-Khelaifi is enormous. The association had to reorganize itself at all levels, a daily presence of the president was necessary, it was said a good month ago.
Sad overall picture
The transfer activities of the Parisians also cause dissatisfaction with the appendix. Gianluigi Donnarumma joined Keylor Navas last summer as the second world-class goalkeeper. In addition, the injured Spanish defense star Sergio Ramos, who only made ten competitive appearances this season, came. Even the commitment of the multiple world footballer Messi did not produce the hoped-for effect – at least on the pitch.
The Argentinian offensive ace prepared 13 goals in the league, but only scored three himself. Probably the best was the 1-0 win against Lens on Saturday in the 68th minute. The dreary overall picture of the day was rounded off by the fact that PSG, who played in the majority for more than half an hour after being sent off against the guests, conceded the equalizer through Corentin Jean (88th).
An exciting and busy summer should await PSG. The future of Mbappé, for example, is still open, a possible move to Real is almost a permanent topic. Perhaps if the exceptional striker stayed on, the heated environment could at least calm down a bit.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:220424-99-24911/3 (Von Christoph Lother and Florian Lüttickedpa)
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