After its failed match against Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday as part of the knockout stages of the Champions League, PSG finds itself at the foot of the wall and confronted with the ghost of its previous failures. For Virginie Phulpin, if the Parisians want to hope to go further in the competition, they will have to commit more.
Paris Saint-Germain was beaten two goals to one in Dortmund on Tuesday night in the knockout stages of the Champions League. For Virginie Phulpin, this team learns nothing from its past mistakes.
This morning, Virginie Phulpin has the unpleasant impression of having been fooled once again. To have naively believed that PSG was going to assume its status of favorite, team cut for the Champions League. And in fact the Parisians have assumed nothing at all, apart from bringing to light their fears and their wanderings of February. It's like a date with a friend who disappoints you every time, you tell yourself that there, it will be different, and then finally it ends in the same way. With heartburn.
Why did PSG miss its party? Perhaps because Ligue 1 does not offer him enough opposition to prepare for the Champions League. There has to be a bit of that. But one cannot always accuse others. Above all, there are intrinsic problems with this team, which learns nothing from its past mistakes. The Parisians do not have the frame of mind for the cleaver matches, it was obvious last night. As soon as they are shaken, they become amorphous. Normally it is in these moments that we see men reveal themselves, rebel. Not at PSG. With each goal from Dortmund, the reaction was to bow your head and look at your feet. There is not one who went to the others to start the revolt. They looked like little boys who had just been punished. What about the coach? Thomas Tuchel missed his evening like the others. Already, he arrives with a defensive organization. Oulala, we are not there to win, but not to lose. Suddenly it instills doubt in the heads of players who did not need it. And then he waits for the last quarter of an hour to make a change. It had been a while since we understood that it didn't work, right?
The Parisians still managed to score a goal that maintains the hope of a qualification.
This goal has already allowed us to see that Kyllian Mbappé and Neymar were on the ground. Because until then it was ghosts that scared only themselves. A goal. It's a bit tight for two of the best players in the world scheduled for this kind of match. Again, we should assume its status. So yes, Neymar lacked rhythm, he returned from injury. Besides, he criticized his club for being afraid to make him play earlier. Proof that it was not only on the ground that it was seized. Fear, that which Leonardo, the sports director, absolutely wanted to avoid, it is everywhere in this club as soon as the matches that count. But yes, Neymar's goal keeps hope alive. A little, huh, we are not going to throw ourselves headlong into a new disappointed hope. In the end, the only thing the Parisians did last night was to avoid the runaway before the return match. It might not be such a bad idea, to miss the outward journey rather than the return…