Discontented mines and small eyes surrounded by fatigue adorned the faces of the many Parisian supporters who met in the early hours of Wednesday in Dortmund. The impatience and excitement before the match gave way to disappointment for some, even to anger for the most vehement. It must be said that with the previous Barcelona, Real Madrid and Manchester United these last three seasons in the eighth finals of the Champions League, lovers of PSG follow the disappointments. The disillusionment is twofold - even if the qualification remains more topical than ever -, since for more than a week, whether Leonardo (silent and discreet Tuesday evening), Thomas Tuchel or the executives of the group, all assured that you shouldn't worry. That Paris would be present at the meeting. That the media were showing "negativity" ... If PSG keeps all its chances on March 11 during the return match (49.3% of teams beaten on the same score of 2-1 have qualified since 1970-1971), the table turns out not very shiny. Far from the excess positivity of the main stakeholders, incapable of the slightest questioning Tuesday evening after the defeat against Dortmund. Decryption of a missed evening.
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State of mind of the big evenings, where are you?
Thiago Silva had warned last Saturday in Amiens (4-4) that "the state of mind would not be the same in Dortmund". Words, more words. Always words. As for acts, it is something else. Paris SG first went astray in what is most basic at a time when the cleaver matches of the Champions League do not accept roughly. Even less lightness, even sufficiency. Tuesday evening, Paris suffered from the comparison with Dortmund in intensity, self-giving, the desire to make collective efforts. All these ingredients, when individuals put themselves at the service of a common cause, which take you into another dimension. PSG missed it terribly at Signal Iduna Park. On several occasions we saw Neymar talking with Marquinhos and Thiago Silva in an attempt to find answers. In vain. With a reality that repeats itself: as soon as the Parisians are jostled, that they do not dictate their rhythm as in Ligue 1, they foil, vacillate and sink. As still branded by the 2017 escalation or the Manchester fiasco last year.
The plan of Tuchel, symbol of the shipwreck
Captain of the PSG ship, Thomas Tuchel missed his evening. In large widths. On the one hand, with his tactical choices. His lack of reaction then. And finally an absence of questioning. That’s a lot for a single game. By deciding to move into 3-4-3, in order to secure a Thiago Silva very far from its best level and to lighten a Neymar short of form for the defensive withdrawals, while Paris plays in 4-4-2 for two month, the 46-year-old technician got scuttled. Neither more nor less than its players. After the poor first half, he could have made changes (Icardi, Cavani, Sarabia, Draxler, Kouassi, Bernat on the bench ...), but he only did a turnover with Sarabia for Di Maria at the end of the game. Too little to change the course of an encounter never mastered. “We lack confidence, and I don't know why. We played with too much fear, “he said, fatalist, after the match. Sign of a man who seems to have little control over a group weighed down by deficient form states (Neymar, Thiago Silva, Bernat, Marquinhos) and delicate statuses to manage (Thiago Silva). He now has three weeks to get this little world back on its feet. The rest of its history at PSG depends on it.
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An off-field image that borders on the ridiculous
For followers of the Paris club, it is almost laughable. Besides the short defeat, it is the attitude off the field, even the lightness, which also raises questions. In the mixed zone, Neymar, head of the gondola of PSG with Kylian Mbappé, supposed to embody the project, could have held a rallying speech for the return match. It was time. And that's supposed to be her role. No, he preferred, once again, to highlight his person more than the project by dezincing the medical staff who would have prevented him from playing lately to keep him cool in view of the C1. “The club was afraid. They made that decision, and I didn't like it, ”he said. Atmosphere. In a completely different genre, Thomas Meunier admitted after the meeting that he did not know that he was under suspension in the event of a yellow card. Bingo, the Belgian will watch the return match from the stands of the Parc des Princes. Grotesque. And revealing of a club which has three weeks to find calm and serenity. The qualification for the quarter-finals depends on it.
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