Management of the Neymar file, arrival of Icardi and Navas at the end of the transfer window, rant against Zidane, departures locked this winter… Since his return to PSG, Leonardo has played on velvet, smile and firmness as irremovable as his black suits. The beautiful mechanics seem to have seized suddenly, at the worst time. That of the eighth finals of the Champions League against Dortmund.
The sports director, 50, has anticipated this course, which has fueled Parisian nightmares for three years, from Barcelona to Manchester via Madrid. At the microphone of Canal +, he tried a rather muscular exit to dispel the paranoia that seized the capital at this time: "I do not see why we must have this fear before the eighth of the Champions League, he said February 10. I think that today the team is ready but if we lose, it doesn't matter, we will continue to grow. We have to be quiet. "
There is no doubt about the bluff of the Brazilian who knows better than anyone that, if an elimination at this stage against an affordable opponent would be particularly harmful. Only, in his message "Leo" rather targeted the media, as Kylian Mbappé a year earlier, when he had dropped after the victory on the lawn of Manchester United: "We must stop selling fear. "
An explosive climate to manage
What the manager, who seeks to master the smallest parameters of a Parisian equation with a thousand unknowns, seems not to have anticipated, is the degree of impregnation of this paralyzing apprehension in his locker room. Without doubt much superior to that of its environment if we judge by the content of the match and especially by the aftermath of the meeting which turned into a psychodrama. PSG did not need anyone to set it on fire.
Between Thomas Meunier who did not know that he would be suspended in the event of a warning, the strong criticisms of Neymar, prevented from playing by Leonardo on the advice of the medical sector, and the insults of the brother of Presnel Kimpembe, the climate is explosive. In complete discrepancy with the sporting situation, despite the defeat. As if Paris had forgotten that it kept all its chances of qualification. The very discreet birthday party of Di Maria, Icardi and Cavani on Thursday evening added to this funny context. The images of players dancing topless two days after their failure in Germany dismayed the leaders. In terms of image, the rendering is catastrophic.
Jérôme Rothen, former club player, got angry at these attitudes, illustrating the feelings of many PSG lovers: “It's dramatic […] I tell myself that they don't give a damn about the world. It is a lack of respect for the supporters, the people who work in this club. ".
His future message will be the most important since his return
Leonardo, who had absolved Neymar following his birthday at 48 hours from Nantes-PSG, after being very annoyed internally by his programming, was present at the resumption of training but did not react publicly until 'here. He didn't speak up when he left Signal Iduna Park, but that was before this cascade of troubles. He also let the club manage the aftermath of the new conflict which opposes him to Neymar and which will not facilitate anything when talking seriously about plans for the future.
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Since his return, the Brazilian has demonstrated that he can use many resources to express himself, through relays, “confidences” to a few journalists present at the Camp des Loges, or at the end of a stadium. A common point between all these interventions: he always has a clear message to convey. The one he chooses to deliver by the date of March 11, the date of the return match against Dortmund, will be the most important since taking office. It would be very surprising if the sports director did not try to regain control. The last few days have allowed him to see that the players were his most sensitive audience and difficult to convince.