PSG: Cropping and "bird names" between Leonardo and the players

For PSG, the month of February was not ideal: a disappointing Champions League first knockout round against Dortmund (2-1 defeat), the insults of Kimpembe's brother towards Parisian coach Thomas Tuchel, settlement of public accounts of Neymar on his management by the club… And especially the very festive birthday of Cavani, Icardi and Di Maria, two days after their defeat in C1.

Yasí ended a noche de fiesta ... ¡Paredes, Navas y Cavani, descontrolados! pic.twitter.com/3BAAeAeDve

This evening was the last straw for Leonardo. The sports director of the capital's club did not appreciate the various videos of the party broadcast on social networks by the players and their relatives, and he informed the group. On February 21, the day after the famous evening, Leonardo decided to reframe his players in the locker room before training at Camps des Loges. The Brazilian, who has not expressed a great deal in front of the squad since the start of the season, was firm in explaining the bad image conveyed through the videos of the birthday party, just after a poor performance in Germany. .

Cavani and Navas spoke

According to information from the team, several executives of the Paris group have spoken, including Edinson Cavani. He would have admitted that "bringing out videos was perhaps a mistake", but he also argued that "it was a celebration with families, that there are much more important subjects and that we give too much importance to this evening, "according to the sports daily. The tone would be raised when the Parisian doorman Keylor Navas defended the group, explaining in Spanish that "the important thing is what happens internally, that the club should not be managed from the outside or react according to social networks ". The Costa Rican would have gotten carried away and found himself a few inches from Leonardo, before apologizing.

"Bird names"

During the meeting, which lasted almost an hour, Neymar also intervened by reconsidering his bad management by the club. According to L'Equipe, he complained "again that he could not play in the weeks before the shock at Signal Iduna Park". Coach Thomas Tuchel also expressed support for Leonardo's words. "For a few minutes, in the locker room, the atmosphere will be very tense," says the sports daily, so much so that in the midst of reactions in all languages, "names of birds" even flared. It seems that this episode has strengthened the ties within the workforce…

After this reframing, the Parisian players have only one way to be forgiven with the leaders of the club: a good performance in the return match on the lawn of the Parc des Princes against Dortmund next March 11 which would qualify the PSG for the Champions League quarter-finals.

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