The Parisians will play in hostile terrain, Wednesday, October 28, on the lawn of Basaksehir Istanbul.
Blunted by their home loss to Manchester United last week in the first group game, Thomas Tuchel's men also find themselves caught in a diplomatic storm.
This Champions League meeting will indeed take place just days after the call for a boycott of French products launched by Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The Turkish president accused his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, of being hostile to Islam, after the latter defended the freedom to caricature the Prophet Muhammad during a national tribute to assassinated professor Samuel Paty.
🤩
🎬 #UCL pic.twitter.com/f7tb9hy6TF
- İstanbul Başakşehir (@ ibfk2014) October 27, 2020
As tensions grew, Basaksehir Istanbul president Göksel Gümüsdag, a step-parent of the Turkish head of state, however, tried to calm things down. "Paris Saint-Germain are a friendly club. management team, starting with Mr. Nasser (Al-Khelaïfi, the president of the Parisian club), are our friends, "he insisted in an interview with the Turkish state press agency Anadolu
,
adding:" We will be very happy to welcome this world class club. "
The reference to the Qatari owner of PSG is not trivial.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan maintains excellent relations with the Emir of Qatar
,
Tamim ben Hamad Al-Thani, to whom Nasser Al-Khelaïfi is very close, which should lead the Turkish authorities to do everything to avoid possible disturbances on Wednesday evening.
Due to sanitary measures, the meeting, scheduled for 5:55 p.m. GMT at Istanbul's Fatih-Terim stadium, will be played behind closed doors anyway.
Asked about this at a press conference on the eve of the meeting, PSG coach Thomas Tuchel also tried not to fuel the controversy.
"I am personally sad that it is not possible for everyone to live in harmony. I think every person would like it. But I am not worried. I really hope that there will be no implication. between sport and politics ", he declared, before refocusing the subject on the sporting level.
"The focus is on the match. The challenge for us is to play in the Champions League and give the signal that we can fight at the sporting level. (...) We will focus on that".
Multiple links with Turkish power
But the history of Basaksehir Istanbul, crowned Turkish champion for the first time in its history last July, is closely linked to politics.
In 2014, Istanbul's Büyüksehir Belediyespor acceded to Süper Lig, the Turkish first division.
In the process, this club, which until then belonged to the municipality of Istanbul, is sold to relatives of the AKP, the party of the Turkish president.
In passing, he changed his name by settling in the district of Basaksehir, stronghold of the AKP.
The links with Turkish power are multiple: the club is sponsored by Medipol, a private hospital group led by President Erdogan's personal doctor, Farhettin Koca, while the new stadium is being built by Kayon Grup, specializing in the construction of infrastructure states.
Finally, the new president is Güksel Gümüsdag, who is none other than the husband of a niece of Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“The Basaksehir neighborhood fully reflects Erdogan's strategy on the Basaksehir club. He created this neighborhood in the 90s, when he felt that the Islamist lifestyle was dominated by the modern, secular lifestyle of . Istanbul he presented it as the epicenter of a cultural project
,
. that replaces the old cultural centers of the city, Beyoglu, Besiktas and Kadikoy Today
,
he did the same with the club: he is trying to replace tradition of the big clubs by Basaksehir ", explained Daghan Iraq, lecturer at the University of Huddersfield (United Kingdom) and author of the book" Football Fandom, Protest and Democracy: Supporter Activism in Turkey ", (football fans , demonstrations and democracy: activism of supporters in Turkey)
,
interviewed by France TV sport.
Erdogan on the pitch for the inauguration of the new stadium
Basaksehir is also playing in orange - by chance or not, the same colors as the AKP - and taking up residence in the brand new Fatih Terim stadium.
On July 26, 2014, during the inaugural match
,
Recep Tayyip Erdogan was present in person on the pitch.
The passion for football of the then Prime Minister of Turkey is not new
:
in his youth, the current head of state evolved at a semi-professional level within Kasimpasa and was even nicknamed "imam Beckenbauer ".
And for his appearance in the jersey of Basaksehir, Recep Tayyip Erdogan even scored a hat-trick.
His jersey - number 12 as he was the favorite to become Turkey's 12th president - is then removed from the squad, a tradition usually reserved for club legends.
Basaksehir then experienced a meteoric rise in power under the leadership, in particular, of the former coach of the Turkish selection, Abdullah Avci.
The Istanbul club also benefits from the financial infusion of investors who have enabled the club to attract big European names on the decline.
Emmanuel Adebayor, Gaël Clichy, Robinho… In the champion squad last season, 18 of the 26 players are of foreign nationality.
But the figurehead of the team remains Arda Turan, a true idol in Turkey and loyal support of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who came from FC Barcelona to join the president's club.
However, if the sporting success is there, the club struggles to gain popularity.
The Fatih Terim stadium still rings hollow.
The average attendance does not exceed 3,000 people - the twelfth in Turkey - while it is designed for 17,000 people.
"You can not invent a club and push this club to popularity using its political power either. That was Erdogan's goal with Basaksehir, but in Turkey, it does not work like that," Daghan said. Iraq on France TV sport.
"A citizen can fanatically support Erdogan politically and continue to support Galatasaray, Fenerbahçe or Besiktas. This is not incompatible."
No room for error for PSG
For his first participation in the group stage of C1, the Turkish kid was relatively unlucky, since he inherited Leipzig, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United as opponents.
Sportingly, the gap is yawning between Basaksehir, absolute neophyte in the Champions League, and Paris SG, finalist of the last edition.
What to put pressure on the Parisian coach and his players, for whom failure in Istanbul is prohibited.
🎙 Thomas Tuchel: “We are always very demanding of ourselves.
We have to do a good result in Turkey after this loss against Manchester.
We are able to do much better.
»#PSGlive pic.twitter.com/ImRCREfSeI
- Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_inside) October 27, 2020
The Parisians remain in effect on a missed entry, last Tuesday, at home, against Manchester United (2-1 defeat), far from the face they had shown in August to reach the final of the C1, defeated only by the untouchable Bayern Munich (1-0).
Anything other than a success would leave the opportunity to extend their lead to Group H rivals Manchester United and Leipzig, who face off in England on Wednesday.
Thomas Tuchel can in any case count in attack on three of his "Fantastic Four", Neymar, Angel Di Maria and Kylian Mbappé.
Only Mauro Icardi, injured, will be missed, as will Marco Verratti and Leandro Paredes.
📸🏨 The arrival of our Parisians at 𝐈𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐛𝐮𝐥 # IBFKPSG pic.twitter.com/TblpnLdRuq
- Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_inside) October 27, 2020
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