That evening, for fifteen minutes, the PSG delegation has just returned to the Myriad hotel on the banks of the Tagus. Where the capital club has privatized this luxury establishment which is reminiscent of a 5-star Dubai hotel with contemporary architecture. Midnight has just passed and Thomas Tuchel's team arrives, drunk with joy on the night of August 18 to 19, qualifying for the Champions League final in hand.
Neymar dances while walking, escorted by Presnel Kimpembe on his right. Eric Maxim-Choupo Moting, Marquinhos, Ander Herrera, Keylor Navas and Pablo Sarabia follow closely behind. The little band, steeped in happiness after an almost perfect match, of a crazy mastery against a ridiculed Leipzig (3-0), go to the table to the sound of swaying rhythms. Give honour where honour is due. The one who manages the sounds is called Neymar, drawing from his smartphone connected by Bluetooth to a huge portable speaker pieces that he declines at will, in particular “Par-Tusa” by El Dipy.
VIDEO. PSG players celebrate qualifying in the final with supporters
After having shared the dinner with music, the troupe goes up to the first floor. Everything happens here, on the mezzanine of the hotel, on game nights. Thiago Silva's partners are preparing to relive the same short night as after the quarter-final won on August 12 against Atalanta Bergamo (2-1). If some spend a few minutes before going to bed, most stay in this lobby, in the middle of a ping-pong table, a pool table and several tables where Spanish speakers start frenzied card games.
A bunch of friends who don't want to let go
Footballers rarely sleep quickly on game nights. “It's going to be hard to sleep,” Angel Di Maria had proclaimed after half. But there may be another reason for Paris, more fundamental, not to fall too quickly into the arms of Morpheus: the desire to stay together again and again, to discuss, to laugh, to remake the world. , around a few high-end ambianceurs.
The hotel is theirs and this bunch of young boys has life ahead of them, at night too. They can't sleep but it looks like they don't really want to either. Spending the hours with friends has no equivalent while the staff of Thomas Tuchel prolongs the match on the ground floor, around a good drink for some. Laughter from the mezzanine reaches them.
Around three o'clock in the morning, four o'clock for the most daring or loaded with adrenaline which evaporates with difficulty, the players finally return to their rooms where they all stay individually. The Brazilians and Spaniards are the last to leave the area.
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The peak of excitement comes after the big games. The other evenings, while the Parisian delegation has taken up residence in Lisbon since August 11, after three full days of training in Faro, the players dine while watching the Champions League or Europa League matches. Between treatments, snacks, meals, the forty-minute round trip to get to the Sporting training center, long training sessions (including an indoor gym part), - the days go by quickly. On Thursday, Idrissa Gueye and company left the hotel at 5:30 p.m. to return at 9 p.m. and a dinner scheduled at 9:30 p.m.
Kimpembe makes the link between young people and stars
Evenings without football, the screens take over. Consoles for some, linking "Call of Duty" or "Counter-Strike". Netflix for others, including Herrera and Bernat in front of the series "I Am A Killer", gathered in the same room. Among the 29 players present in the Portuguese capital, Loïc Mbe Soh, Timothée Pembele, Kays Ruiz-Atil, Arnaud Kalimuendo do not stay on their side. They blend in completely with others, breaking the lock of generations and clans. Besides, there are neither clans nor camps. If the cloakroom speaks mainly Spanish, a great fluidity presides over social relations. And some make it a point of honor to build bridges while showing that they know where they come from.
In Faro, training often begins with toros. On the one hand, a group brings together the top names, the most technical elements, with Neymar, Mbappé, Verratti, Di Maria or even Herrera and Icardi. On the other, less star players, such as young people, the Titis of the training. A man always slips among them, like a passer in time and in the spirit: Presnel Kimpembe, yet already one of the leaders of the team, a potential captain.
Neymar anti-star
More generally, one man allows and provokes these gatherings, this unity, this sacred atmosphere: Neymar, again and again. In private, number 10 behaves like an anti-star, grafting on to young people, not so young, Spanish speakers, Europeans not to mention his Brazilian friends. He does not benefit from any privilege and does not claim any, moreover. If his teammates appreciate him so much, it is because he advances on a daily basis in Mr. Everyone. In short, he does not tell it to himself, does not crush anyone, does not inhibit others, offering a more solar side of his personality and far from past attitudes, a Zlatan Ibrahimovic being able to chamber as to castrate his partners.
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With my friend @iganagueye Let's do it together bro 👊🏽👊🏽
A post shared by ene10ta Érre 🇧🇷 👻 neymarjr (@neymarjr) on Aug 19, 2020 at 12:53 pm PDT
Here, everyone laughs, like an Angel Di Maria that the others rediscover. “Fideo” carries his smile everywhere, in the Myriad as in the Sporting Academia, where it is his voice that we hear the most. The Argentine strains the troops with jokes, pulling the ear of a defender before flicking his index finger and thumb on his ear, multiplying mischievous attitudes, totally crazy. In the decor, the face of Mauro Icardi stands out. When he knew he would not play in the semi-final, the Argentinian was less inclined to joke but without showing his spleen. It's not the fashion here.
Ander Herrera's pranks find a little less echo with him this week. The middle, titular in quarter as in half, took the lead in recent months. He takes on the role of leader of the Spanish-speaking colony, with a method that has become programmatic: incredible training sessions where he gives himself body and soul and a squad made to laugh when the job is done. The former Mancunien seems keen on the exercise of questions and answers in front of the press or UEFA, which organizes an interview before each match. The moment amuses him and Herrera will find himself twice in a distancing press conference in three days.
Tuchel in positive attitude mode
The cerebral Thomas Tuchel watches the ball from a distance. Mainly with his staff, the coach follows out of the corner of his eye the good humor that spreads everywhere. He also contributes to it. In training, he never ceases to encourage, rather to congratulate, every successful gesture, pass, strike or movement. “Well done Colin! Top, top, top! "He launches to Dagba as soon as the right side is amazed by his centers or his vision of the game on a given exercise.
This is the Tuchel method in recent months: feeding his troops with compliments, just to strengthen their confidence. In return, his players delivered one of the most successful matches of recent years, with this semi-final against Leipzig, at a sensational level. His broken paw prevents him from physically approaching them, from touching them as he has become accustomed to in training. He remains at the edge of the field, sitting on a cooler. This does not prevent him from keeping his stress in a match. Evidenced by this pass of arms in German, Tuesday, in the semi-final with Julian Nagelsmann, an exchange fueled by a flood of insults between the two men.
Mbappé's determination
For the past few hours, the bubble of concentration has gradually closed over the group. Kylian Mbappé, from the top of his 21 years, advances as a scout. He did not come to play a Champions League final but to win it. On Tuesday, in the bus back to the hotel, he reminded his teammates that the hardest part is coming, without knowing at the time that Bayern Munich and its five Champions Leagues won, its ten finals contested, would try to block their path to the coronation.
There have been two Kylians since the arrival of PSG in Portugal. First that of Faro, engaged in his chase against time to repair an ankle affected in his ligament by the tackle of Stéphanois Loïc Perrin on July 24 at the Stade de France, during the final of the Coupe de France. Thanks to his relentless treatment, the world champion understood in Faro that he could play part of the match against Bergamo on August 12. The opportunity for him to find his full place within the group where his natural charisma continues to impress, even if he too acts as a discreet partner, going through meals with calm and concentration, as an observer amused by others.
But in training, he has not changed, probably to the delight of Thomas Tuchel and his staff that the crack of Bondy constantly calls out during the oppositions to claim a touch or a free kick. His competitive instinct continues to feed him fiercely. This instinct, like the contagious atmosphere, is spreading virally within the team. These people have a Champions League to win on Sunday.