If Leonardo were to be a football cliché, it would be "he does not express himself very much, but when he speaks we listen to him". The media outings of the sports director of Paris Saint-Germain are always highly anticipated because they generally reserve their share of highlights. To cite only one example, remember its famous giggle in the mixed zone to answer a question about the supposed duty of transparency of the club in the Neymar dossier, then announced at the start. A stroke of genius in a communication masterclass .
We insist on the term "masterclass", because it is also in this way that Leo's intervention at the microphone of Canal + after the 4-2 success of PSG against OL was qualified. Mainly to prepare the ground before the double confrontation against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League. The Brazilian has been pretty much praised on the networks for his quasi-monologue of seven minutes while, paradoxically, it is perhaps the most counterproductive projection since his return so far perfect.
"It's not forbidden to be happy!"
"We don't play life, death ..."
"Neymar? He's very committed, very happy ... A fantastic player"
MASTERCLASS from @leo_de_araujo (Dir. Sportif @PSG_inside) live in the #CFC debrief after #PSGOL on @canalplus 🗣️😂 pic.twitter.com/MRSWx16wIW
Leonardo's contradictory dedramatization
The Parisian sports director did not try to hide it: it was above all to evoke the pre-Borussia that he took the microphone. And more generally come to criticize a certain "negativity" of the journalists around the round of 16, these same journalists, who, it is well known, alone eliminated PSG at Camp Nou in 2017 and at the Park last year. Leonardo tells us that the club will not play "not life to death" against Borussia Dortmund ("we must get out of this situation of" if we lose, we are dead "") that the "club will continue to grow" and that life will go on whatever happens after these eighths.
This is not false in itself, but why come and tell everyone that everything is fine if everything is going well? "PSG has two of the best four strikers in the world." Does a club sure of its strength need to carry out its inventory? Wouldn't he let the supposed media storm pass before responding to it on the ground, even if it means taunting the journalists after the qualification? Who is Leonardo trying to reassure? The media? His supporters and his players? This strange protrusion also puzzles Fabrice Hay, specialist in sports communication for the agency La tête et les legs.
When he leaves on negativity, he jumps at their throats. There is a lot of animosity, in terms of communication, it's not clever at all. When you get angry like that, it's because you have things to blame yourself for. It indicates that there is a problem somewhere. He justifies himself in advance, he prepares the ground himself in advance in the event of defeat. What flies in the ear is that he says "we have the two best attackers in the world behind Messi and Ronaldo". Ok, but nobody says you don't have the right players. He is caught in his own trap, it is not well brought. If he was calm, he would have replied calmly, delivered an analysis of the match explaining that Lyon is an opponent against whom we can take two goals, that they have made mistakes that should not be reproduced in the European Cup , and basta. "
In Dortmund, the melodrama, power 1000
"Borussia is like us, it's 4-3, it's 3-2, it's 5-4". Leonardo was right when he recalled what Dortmund was, a resolutely offensive team at the expense of their defense (32 goals conceded in 21 days, Borussia's worst score in 12 seasons). By being lucid, he could also have said that Lucien Favre spent a complicated year, that he was challenged internally and hardly listened to by his players, and, ultimately, let the journalists rave about Haaland by discreetly watching the opponent self-destruct behind the scenes.
“Borussia is not serene, confirms Ali Farhat, journalist based in Germany. Because the defense takes too many goals. Lucien Favre always says the same thing at a press conference, "we have taken too many goals, we will try to correct that". Favre's problem is that he is a fatalistic individual ”. His press conference after defeat against Leverkusen (3-4, seven goals conceded in two games) is the perfect symbol. “I have rarely had a team with such difficulties. I don't feel dejected, but I can't explain my defensive excitement. "
Even on his management, however relevant to Erling Haaland, the trainer is expensive, the Borussen general manager believing that the Norwegian has already proven himself enough to deserve the status of holder. “We are facing two teams, Paris and Dortmund, who will stand at the door for the quarter-finals of the Champions League. "After you, no, after you" ... "quips the journalist. Same ability to scuttle mediatically, same ability to take two pawns in five minutes (also a house specialty in the Ruhr) ... He promises, this match between twins.
- Borussia Dortmund
- Leonardo
- Sport
- Champions League
- PSG