PSG, the victory to (really) dream bigger

Special envoy to Lisbon

"The most important 90 minutes in club history." This is how Marco Verratti presents this Champions League final which awaits PSG this Sunday (9 p.m.), in Lisbon. A dream poster against Bayern, slayer of dreams from Lyon in the semi-finals (3-0), executioner of Barça in the quarters (8-2) and already crowned five times. Obviously, this is a first for PSG, just 50 years old and who dream of being equal to the big guys since the arrival of the Qataris, in 2011. “It's a little too early to say it. The big clubs, it is judged on five, ten years “, moderates the Munichois Kingsley Coman, formed… with the PSG. Which Coman tells us why we did not see any outpouring of joy in the Bavarian ranks after the half, unlike PSG: “We were happy, but we have already done several halves. The real celebration will be Sunday, if we win. ”

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Make no mistake about it: Thomas Tuchel's players know the job is not yet finished. There is still a step to be climbed to really make history, erase the scars of the past and realize the club's slogan: "Let's dream bigger". The year or never? In any case, the planets line up one by one. We could doubt it. Tuchel doubted it. "As always before the Champions League, negative news is accumulating," he railed a few days before the departure for Portugal, deploring many physical glitches. All with the final cessation of Ligue 1, considered a "disadvantage". As a symbol of this scoumoune, said Tuchel broke his foot during… "a sports session"!

Painful learning

Since then, the lights have returned to green. Kylian Mbappé is back and "ready to leave his body on the ground", Marco Verratti applies at least for the group, Keylor Navas is hoped for and Neymar, who ensures to live his "best moments since his arrival in Paris", is dazzling in this "Final 8". The draw was also lenient, even if nothing is easy in a dry match. We saw it against Atalanta, who led to the 89th in the quarters (2-1), before a show of force in the halfs against Leipzig (3-0).

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The Rouge et Bleu therefore have the cards to offer France its second Champions League, the first since that of OM in 1993. If necessary, the journey will not have been easy and learning, sometimes painful. But the joy would be even greater. “We have experienced several disappointments since my arrival in 2017, agrees Mbappé. We're in the final. It shows that we didn't give up, I didn't give up. It would be a great reward to be able to win with a French club. It was my mission when I signed up, I said I came for this. To win (this Sunday), that would be incredible, a great accomplishment. ”

"A new opportunity to mark the history of my country"

The absence of supporters, a new format and more generally the context of this year 2020, in the shadow of the virus, would not change anything. "It's still the Champions League," said Mbappé, seeing it as "a new opportunity to mark the history of (his) country". We still have to win, beat this impressive German champion team. There will be no gift. Paris, which has flawlessly on the national scene by winning four trophies out of four, will have to earn its title. And this against a club that has regularly criticized its model, supercharged with Qatari gas dollars. Although, the Bavarian management is less talkative on this subject since it counts Qatar Airways among its sponsors… PSG-Bayern, the nouveau riche, the ambitious bourgeois, facing the aristocracy in place. "Until further notice, Paris is in France," corrects Hansi Flick, questioned about an opposition between the Munich team and the Qatar club. 

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New rich, not newborn. From its creation in 1970 to the Canal + years , notably with the Coupe des Coupes 1996, the club's only European trophy so far, through the rebirth under Daniel Hechter (1974) and the first trophies in the 80s, with Francis Borelli, Paris has an experience, its experience. "There is always something going on with PSG," summarizes ex-president Alain Cayzac. It's a turbulent club, that's why it's so fascinating. " And who is perhaps preparing to write the most beautiful page in its history.

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