Lisbon (AFP)
A few hundred supporters of Paris SG and Atalanta Bergamo have ignored the closed door decreed for the "Final 8" of the Champions League, to support their team in a cozy atmosphere before the first shock of the quarter-finals on Wednesday in Lisbon.
About 200 people, mostly young people, waited behind a police cordon for the Parisians to leave their hotel, located on the banks of the Tagus estuary.
A clamor arose around 6.30 p.m. local (5.30 p.m. GMT) when the players walked the ten meters, like red carpet, which separated the exit of the hotel from their bus.
Obviously the most acclaimed, Neymar took the opportunity to unveil his new mohican cut which was already making the buzz on social networks.
The crowd dispersed as the bus left for the Luz stadium, where another group of several dozen supporters of the two clubs were waiting for them, kept away from the enclosure by the Portuguese police.
Among them, Steven Barreiros, a supporter of Portuguese origin, came from the Paris region to spend a family vacation. Dressed in a PSG jersey flocked with his first name, this 25-year-old gendarme wanted to go to the stadium before returning to the city center to attend the meeting on the terrace of a restaurant.
"We are here to support our superstars, and if possible to see them," he told AFP, admitting his disappointment that a stadium that can accommodate nearly 60,000 people could not receive "at least 5,000 or 10,000".
As for the predictions of the match, "we all hope that this is the year of PSG", added this subscriber to the Auteuil turn of the Parc des Princes, the day the club celebrates its 50th anniversary.
"Being here is already a victory for us", assures Giulano Cucchi, one of the Atalanta supporters who came from Bergamo on purpose to "follow the team as closely as possible". "We are waiting for the bus to cheer them on and then we will go see the game somewhere not far from here," he added.
© 2020 AFP