After May 26, 1993, August 23, 2020? PSG, which plays its first Champions League final on Sunday against Bayern Munich, has the opportunity to offer French football its second European crown, 27 years after the coronation of OM.

"It is a very special format, which we will remember with the context of the tragedy (of the Covid-19, Editor's note). We know that this edition is very important. It will remain in history": to the Like its star Kylian Mbappé, the Parisian club measures how unique the opportunity to enter the legend of French sport is, at the time of celebrating its fiftieth anniversary.

Since the lost Monaco final in 2004, football France has been waiting for 16 years for one of its representatives to reach the final stage of the prestigious European Cups.

The course of the PSG in the "Final 8" - an unprecedented format imagined by UEFA to end its flagship competition, paralyzed for five months by the Covid-19 pandemic - even made float in the capital an air of the World Cup , two years after the coronation of the Blues in Russia.

Direct elimination matches, neutral ground, base camp unchanged for nearly 15 days ... The new C1, marked also by the odyssey of Lyon until the semi-final, fascinates the French to the highest peak of the state. And this, despite the camera, images of empty stands, restrictions related to Covid-19 ... or the Paris-Marseille rivalry!     

Eleventh C1 final for Bayern Munich

If OM will remain "forever the first" club to have raised, in 1993, the "cup with big ears", the wearing of the Parisian jersey, for a time prohibited by the prefect of police of Bouches-du-Rhône, will be admitted Sunday in the Old Port despite possible risks of incidents.

Faced with the fervor aroused by the Parisian exploits in this period of health crisis, coach Thomas Tuchel and his players have however called for moderation. "Dear supporters, this Sunday let us all be responsible: let us respect the barrier gestures", they hammered on social networks.

In Paris, the final will be broadcast on giant screens at the Parc des Princes in front of 5,000 supporters, the maximum level imposed by the government. The avenue des Champs-Elysées will be reserved for pedestrians on Sunday evening, but there will be no "fan zones" in the capital.

It remains to bring down Bayern Munich, five-time winner and big favorite of the final, so that the party is beautiful. Sure of his offensive power embodied by the demonstration in mondovision against Barcelona (8-2) in the quarterfinals and by Robert Lewandowski, top scorer of the competition with 15 goals, the Bavarian ogre, founded in 1900, will play his 11th final of C1. 

In Paris, only Angel Di Maria (2014), Neymar (2015) and Keylor Navas (2016, 2017, 2018) have already reached the European Grail. "It is a small advantage for Bayern to be used to playing the finals. But it is not decisive," said Thomas Tuchel, Saturday to the press.   

The "most important 90 minutes of our career"

Despite the difference in experience at this level, the dynamic created since the click of Dortmund in the round of 16, the stunning victory against Atalanta Bergamo (2-1) in the quarterfinals, and the demonstration against Leipzig (3-0) in half, give solid grounds for hope to PSG.

All the more so as Neymar, candidate for the symbolic title of best player on the planet football in 2020, is on the way to achieving the masterpiece of his career ... even if he has still not scored in this Almost perfect "Final 8". 

"This year, so far, we have had an incredible journey, said Parisian midfielder Marco Verratti. Now we have 90 minutes left, the most important in our football career and in club history."

For the Qatari owners, who have invested colossal means since 2011 to hoist Paris to the top of Europe, the opportunity to devote a decade of work to all levels and to erase the successive disillusions in the European Cup is in scope of crampons.

In particular for Thiago Silva (35), emblematic captain of the QSI era, who will play his last match in the Parisian jersey. "I hope to finish this adventure with a title in the Champions League, it's our dream," he told AFP, just before the start of the competition.

With AFP

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