Ligue 1: Paris Saint-Germain, entangled in controversies, is preparing to receive OM

Will Kylian Mbappé (our photo) stay at PSG?

REUTERS - CHRISTIAN HARTMANN

Text by: Farid Achache Follow

4 mins

Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) receives Olympique de Marseille (OM) on Sunday October 16 during the 11th day.

And before this

Classico

, the atmosphere is far from being good among Parisians.

Since the arrival of Qatar in the capital of Paris Saint-Germain, the Parisian club has not been spared by controversies of all kinds.

For the past few weeks, as the 2022 World Cup in Qatar is about to begin, the club has been shaken by new business.

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Little reminder.

On June 30, 2011, the sovereign wealth fund Qatar Investment Authority bought 70% of the shares of PSG

via

its subsidiary Qatar Sports Investments (QSI).

Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, president of the club announces that the club has the ambition to win the Champions League in the long term.

The fans are thrilled.

Since then, despite the arrival of different stars in the capital club, Paris is still chasing the "Big Ears Cup".

A prestigious trophy that the Qataris certainly hoped to win before the start of the 2022 World Cup which begins at home in November.

The moods of French star Kylian Mbappé

Instead of a victory that would have changed the image of a club considered for years as "bling bling", it is incessant controversies that have befallen PSG.

In Paris, we talk less about football than about business.

Latest:

the "

 land yacht

 "

and the moods of the French star Kylian Mbappé.

Several political figures have criticized the supposed lack of ecological awareness of the club and its trainer Christophe Galtier for their air travel.

Mbappé, he would have desires elsewhere.

But above all, the biggest shock came from the Mediapart information site, Wednesday, October 12.

Between 2018 and 2020, the online investigative journal reveals, the Digital Big Brother (DBB) agency deployed a galaxy of fake Twitter accounts to carry out digital raids against PSG targets.

The art of shooting yourself in the foot?

In the viewfinder?

Media such as

L'Équipe

and

Mediapart

, Olympique de Marseille, OL president Jean-Michel Aulas, the supporter who slapped Neymar after the 2019 Coupe de France final or the young woman who accused the striker rape brazilian.

There would also have been internal targets as with the player Adrien Rabiot, who now plays in Italy at Juventus.

Team superstar

Kylian Mbappé

has also been affected by cyberbullying, according to

Mediapart

revelations .

The press, fueled by his entourage, is now advancing the hypothesis of an imminent departure of the world champion, annoyed by his positioning on the ground and the broken promises since his resounding contract extension last May, which was to mark the end of the “bling bling” and the beginning of a radical change at PSG.

Obviously, it failed.

Would PSG have the art of shooting themselves in the foot?

Cyberbullying adds to several episodes that have troubled the club's image in recent weeks.

Like the investigation into the attack with an iron bar in November 2021 of the French international Kheira Hamraoui, implicating her former teammate at the female PSG Aminata Diallo.

Or the Nasser Al-Khelaïfi affair (an investigation published by the daily

Liberation

, Editor's note) against the backdrop of the detention and blackmail of a Franco-Algerian entrepreneur who claimed to have private videos on the PSG boss, but also elements on the awarding of the World Cup to Qatar.

According to information from Le Parisien, " 

Doha has appointed an emissary at the bedside of PSG in recent days

 ".  

Three games in a row without winning

In this context, Paris has just chained three games in a row without winning, two in

the Champions League

against Benfica (1-1 in Lisbon then in Paris) and one in Ligue 1 against Reims (0-0).

Above all, the capital club has its injured (Presnel Kimpembe, Nuno Mendes, Renato Sanches...), must do without Sergio Ramos (suspended) and is not certain about the presence of Lionel Messi, hit at a calf ten days earlier.

Confidence is not at its zenith.

Neymar, dazzling since August, is marking time a little.

In addition, business also awaits the Brazilian, his trial for "

 corruption

 " and " 

fraud 

" opens Monday, October 17 in Barcelona.

The story has been going on since 2016, the Brazilian agency which partially managed the player's image rights, DIS, considering itself wronged in the transfer of Neymar from Santos to Barcelona three years earlier.

A failure against rival club Marseille would be of the worst effect for the leader of Ligue 1. Three points separate the Parisian leader from the Marseillais, who have won their last two Champions League matches.

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