Virginie Phulpin 7:26 am, October 19, 2021

Every day, the morning of Europe 1 looks back on one of the sporting events that make the news.

This Tuesday, Virginie Phulpin is interested in the Champions League match between PSG and Lepizig.

The Parisians will have to face the absence of several and in particular of Icardi.

According to her, her relationship problems perfectly reflect the ills of football today.

Paris Saint-Germain face Leipzig this evening for the third day of the Champions League.

The objective is to confirm the great victory acquired against Manchester City.

But at PSG the field is still parasitized by the extra-sportsman, as with Mauro Icardi in recent days.

For Virginie Phulpin, the Argentine striker symbolizes the evils of current football. 

Do we have to show everything, say everything, leave no mystery? It is far from being a subject of philosophy. But that seems to me to be a real question for football today, for the clubs, for the players and for us, the public. And Mauro Icardi is a real textbook case, the Argentine striker shows us in the background how this sport has turned into a gigantic entertainment circus, and not necessarily in the noble sense. On Sunday, the striker was absent from PSG training. Rebelote yesterday. Family problems. We could have stayed with this explanation. Because the rest, as the Strangers would say 

But what was valid in this cult sketch of the late 80s does not really hold today.

Mauro Icardi and his wife and agent Wanda Nara expose their entire lives on social media.

And there, we can say to ourselves that it does not concern us, we were indeed obliged to learn that there had been infidelity of the player, and that he had gone to Milan to try to win back his wife.

Did we need to know all this?

Honestly, I think we have other problems in mind.

If Mauro Icardi could be a little less discreet on a football field and a little more about his private life, we would not lose by the change, frankly. 

The football field is no longer just the football field.

This Mauro Icardi story referred me to Laurent-David Samama's book on current football. It's an essay called "Foot Porn", with this sentence that applies perfectly to the present case. "As if this sport that we adored for its propensity to make us dream had been lost by wanting to show everything, until the overdose, until this disgusting profusion". Athletes, and footballers in particular, are encouraged, encouraged to share everything on social networks, so much the image and the little stories count for their popularity. But this display in public places has its downsides. The player suffers the frontal attacks of Internet users. And it even reflects on the team. PSG are playing a Champions League match tonight.And one wonders how the club could let its player skip training for this kind of reason. It is not even a question of reproaching Mauro Icardi. He is simply the pure product of football which has become a permanent spectacle. On the ground, and unfortunately also outside. And yes, there is a little nausea.