By failing to win a tenth French football title on Sunday night, Paris Saint-Germain ended their season on a negative note.
But the club's score is not completely missed in 2020-2021.
DECRYPTION
The ax fell on the blows of 22:50, Sunday evening: Paris Saint-Germain, winner in Brest (2-0), could not count on a defeat or a draw from Lille to Angers (2-1) , to be sacred at the finish.
Mauricio Pochettino's men will not be champions of France, only for the third time since the Qatari owners joined the club just ten years ago.
And see in the announced triumph of Lille the mirror of an imperfect season.
Would it be synonymous with failure?
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A "disappointment" but a "failure"
For a decade, PSG has become accustomed to capturing titles in France.
Seven French championship titles (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020), French Cups and League Cups galore, the annual ration of Champions Trophies before the start of each financial year ... Paris has lost very little on the national scene against its competitors, whether they are Lyon, Marseille, Monaco or here Lille.
The Argentine coach of the club conceded on Saturday, before the game against Brest, that not winning the league title would indeed be a "big disappointment" for the club.
"But to speak of a failure, it is too strong", he immediately positivized, as to evacuate the idea that this season 2020-2021, which he took along the way, was not to throw away.
And for his men, there are still reasons for satisfaction, starting with the absence of a virgin season.
Thanks to victories in the Coupe de France and in the Champions Trophy, the capital club continues to see its record grow, with 42 titles in 50 years of existence, of which nearly two-thirds have been gleaned since 2011.
In the European gotha
Above all, PSG managed the performance of reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League this season, after their final last year. In two seasons, Paris Saint-Germain have shone more on the European scene than in the previous seven years. In a way, if the gap with other French clubs seems to be narrowing, the difference in level with the gratin of the European teams seems to be filled over the years and the failures of each other.
Finally, the PSG began in the middle of this season marked by the Covid a change of course in its management, with the departure of Thomas Tuchel at the winter break. At the helm of the club since January, Mauricio Pochettino has certainly not managed to pass Lille, but the Argentinian technician will have time and a more normal preparation, in the offseason, to set out again to the assault. And thus chase the specter of a second season without a title of champion of France.