The ephemeral return to women's D 1 at OM last year (a little) spiced up the season for PSG players and supporters. But for Paris, the real classic for women is against another Olympique, Lyon this one. A new act of this essential rivalry will be played this Sunday (9 p.m., on France 4 and Eurosport 2) at the Stade Abbé-Deschamps in Auxerre for the final of the Coupe de France. A dream final, the fifth in history between the two heavyweights of French women's football. The reunion promises to be hot as relations between the great rivals have never seemed so tense as this year.
Five months ago, they left each other angry without clashing. Scheduled for March 14 and postponed the day before due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the decisive shock for the attribution of the title has caused much ink to flow, especially on the Lyon side. OL tried - in vain - to push him back, with recourse. The match came after an international break which deprived it of several players. The health crisis passed by there and the championship was stopped, crowning the Rhone club for the 14th consecutive year and leaving its counterpart in Ile-de-France in 2nd place.
With the exception of the 2016-2017 season due to the loss of four points for an administrative error, PSG has always had to settle for the runner-up position since 2012. This is the year in which Qatari leaders paved the way for professionalism to their female section. Jean-Michel Aulas does not miss an opportunity to castigate the competition deemed unfair in Ligue 1 of PSG because of his membership of a state. But the president of OL, a forerunner in the development of women's football, has always welcomed the arrival of an opponent worthy of the name for his daughters and able to increase the interest of a two-speed championship. Only the shock can also unleash so many passions and each time attract 10,000 to 30,000 spectators.
A final epic and controversial
However, the players of Aulas continue to devour everything in their path, six Champions Leagues and eight French Cups in addition to support. In 25 confrontations since 2012, the balance clearly tilts in favor of the Lyonnaises with 17 victories (including three on penalties) for 4 Parisian victories and 4 draws.
The last time that PSG took over was in the final of the 2018 Coupe de France in Strasbourg, the only female trophy of the Qatari era. An epic and controversial finale, already. After an hour of interruption due to violent storms, the Lyon clan did not want to resume the match, hoping to have it replay while Paris led 1-0. Ada Hegerberg was then denied the equalizing goal valid in added time. “We were stolen. At least, we can look at each other in a mirror, ”said OL captain Wendie Renard.
Even the break linked to the health crisis did not calm the reports. Bruno Cheyrou took advantage of the period to move from one camp to another. The general manager of the PSG women's section, who had put him in the driver's seat by appointing him to his first football post at the end of 2017, joined OL as recruiting manager for the men's team.
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But it is not so much this "transfer" that has heightened the tensions as the departures for the Rhône of 16-year-old Parisian hopes, Alice Sombath and especially Vicki Becho, during confinement. Paris wanted them to sign their first contract, it was in Lyon that they finally initialed it. The nugget Becho was the spearhead of the golden generation, champion of France under 19 last year after his crushing success (5-1) in the final against… OL. Quite a symbol. "Discussions with PSG were leading nowhere," said the former Parisian in our columns. It annoyed me and disappointed me that PSG did not show me a great interest after all the sacrifices that my family and I made to come. "Declarations badly passed internally within the Parisian club.
PSG was therefore not ready to leave another of its players, a frame moreover, also passed to the enemy. At the end of the contract and close to signing with Lyon, striker Kadidiatou Diani finally extended three years after a phone call from sports director Leonardo and a big salary increase. This pass of arms is reminiscent of the one that opposed the two clubs in 2017 about Amandine Henry. Contrary to its habits, PSG was ready to break the bank to convince her to join him on his return from the United States, offering him a salary of 17,500 euros per month and a signing bonus of 300,000 euros. The current captain of the Bleues has decided to return to Lyon for 30,000 euros per month.
Leonardo took over
This time, PSG seemed determined not to let themselves be walked on. Since Cheyrou's departure, Leonardo has taken over the women's section. "We will put the means to go and find Lyon, it's a good year," said the Brazilian in substance to the group on the day of the recovery on June 29. The sporting director was still in Bordeaux last weekend for the semi-final. Sign that the situation has changed since the observation made a few years ago by Laura Georges, current secretary general of the FFF. In October 2014, in an interview with Le Monde, the Parisian defender, also spent by OL, deplored the lack of interest of the president of PSG.
“I will not give excuses to Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, she had launched. He's my president, but we don't see him at the women's games. We can say of Jean-Michel Aulas that he is very present in the media, but he is a manager close to his players. If his female team is there, it is because he invests himself with his means, but also as a person. If the president of PSG believes in women's football, he must be present. "
The hold-up in 2014, the humiliation in 2016
Like Laura Georges, a dozen players since 2012 have worn both jerseys. The bridges were also used by the coaches. Last year, Lyon entrusted the reins of its feminine jewel to Jean-Luc Vasseur, former player and youth coach at PSG in the distant past. More recently, Paris called on two emblematic former coaches of the lionesses to carry out its project, Farid Benstiti in 2012 and Patrice Lair in 2016. The first was the architect of the first Lyon titles, at FC Lyon (2001- 2004) then at OL (2004-2010), the second of the first Champions Leagues (2010-2014).
It still took a year and a half for Benstiti to bring PSG to their first success in history against OL, on January 18, 2014 in Gerland (1-0). But we find the genesis of the rivalry between the two formations in November 2014. The Parisiennes eliminate the Lyonnaises in the round of 16 of the Champions League on their only shot on target (1-0). The whole Lyon camp is screaming at the hold-up and castigates a small arm PSG refusing the game.
The same chorus returns intermittently, even if the duels are more and more tight and the scores narrow. In order to find additional motivation before the shocks, Lyon players also often feed on statements made in the press by their Parisian counterparts to send them back to their dear studies. Except this season then. PSG's quest for the Grail will fail in the final in Berlin with a loss in added time against Frankfurt (1-2).
The Lyon revenge comes two years later, and it is scathing. In April 2016, in the semi-final of the Champions League, OL inflicted a 7-0 on PSG. A humiliation! Even before 2012 and while its players were under amateur status and worked alongside, the Parisian club had never suffered such a heavy defeat. At the end of the season, Farid Benstiti will not be extended before being replaced by Patrice Lair, already his former successor in the Rhône.
"If Lyon is the best team in the world, Paris is not very far behind"
At the end of his first year in the capital, the fiery coach led the Parisiennes to the final of the Coupe de France and the Champions League. The only problem is that they fall each time on Lyon and lose on penalties. After the first act in Vannes, Lair let go: “I'm Breton, but obviously not proud to be so tonight given the public support for Lyon and its reaction against us. There will therefore be no revenge in Cardiff ten days later after a duel of rare intensity. The penalty shootout is punctuated by the shots of the goalkeepers, with the failure of the Polish Katarzyna Kiedrzynek, who will end in tears, and that succeeded by Sarah Bouhaddi.
History repeats itself at the first Trophée des championnes in Guingamp last September. OL defeated PSG on penalties. After her missed penalty, Grace Geyoro breaks down in tears, inconsolable. "I'm fed up, we miss everything every time," chokes the Parisian Titi. Little consolation, she and her partners can tell themselves that the wheel will eventually turn. As their coach Olivier Echouafni said after the last confrontation in November, still lost (1-0): “If Lyon is the best team in the world, Paris is not very far behind. "
