PSG: ulcerated, Luis Fernandez asks Leonardo to "respect" the history of the club

It is an understatement to say that Luis Fernandez, the former player and coach of PSG, did not appreciate the comments made at midday on Tuesday by Leonardo, the Parisian sports director, during a question-and-answer session with club supporters.

At the conclusion of a long exchange in which he notably mentioned the fate of Thomas Tuchel or the contract extensions of Neymar and Mbappé, Leonardo argued that the historical context did not help PSG to win the Champions League.

“The other clubs that started winning in the 1970s, like Inter or Ajax, were built in the 1890s,” said the Brazilian.

There is a culture in the city, a culture to be built.

Paris, for example, has never exactly been the city of football.

It is still Marseille.

"

It did not take more to react Luis Fernandez, emblematic player and coach of the club of the capital.

“When I hear that, it revolts me, I don't agree.

I do not share his opinion at all.

I only want one thing, is that Nasser

puts his ideas back in place.

"

To explain the reasons for his anger, Fernandez first handles irony about Leonardo, a midfielder during the 1996-1997 season.

“It's true that when he went to PSG, he stayed ten years, he says.

Isn't that right?

Rai, he liked the club.

Even Ricardo, even Valdo.

They did not come to the club to do a year, flambé and go elsewhere.

They liked PSG.

And we can't take that away from those Brazilians.

Him, he left after a year.

So when we talk about culture, we have to know what we are saying.

"

"He does not have to interfere with the past"

And Luis Fernandez continues: “Its culture is Italian culture.

He could have stayed in Paris to try to make him grow as a player.

What was his choice?

Go.

The problem is that in Italy he did not succeed.

He didn't have the fame he would have liked to have.

There, he is in a club where he has a difficulty with a coach who does not give way.

But he doesn't have to interfere with the past.

That's why his words don't make sense.

They are out of place and I hope we will have the opportunity to let him know.

"

The beIN Sports consultant asks Leonardo to “respect the history of the club” because “in this story there were two coaches Luis Fernandez and Ricardo who brought the club to the Cup final, or Artur Jorge who beat Barça and Real Madrid, he says.

And before, we didn't have the same means.

"

"Full stands long before he arrives"

More broadly Luis Fernandez assures him: “Yes there is something to do with football in Paris.

First, and you can write that too, that Leonardo already respects all those players who wore the jersey and who are no longer here today.

I am thinking of Thierry Bacconnier, Luc Borelli, Michel N'Gom.

The same goes for leaders.

And then, vis-à-vis the supporters, I don't like to hear that from him either.

Because there have been two or three who have passed away, including one recently.

And you have to have a thought for these people, who loved this jersey with pride and defend it.

There is a culture of supporters at PSG.

There are stands that were full long before he arrived.

When he was a player he saw it, didn't he?

But that didn't interest him at that time because he had no interest in Paris Saint-Germain.

In his head he had only one thing: to go and play for AC Milan AC… ”

For the former club coach, the Parisian sports director's reference to clubs born in 1890 is only a bad excuse.

“First I ask him to respect the 50 years, notes Fernandez.

Then there has never been so much financial means to recruit and to find the players to win the Champions League!

"

Luis is still annoyed: "Let him not deal with the past, but deal with the present!"

He wants control of the training and we see what happens, eh, with all the young people who have left.

I also heard that he put an Italian doctor on the staff.

When I see the number of injured players today, I ask myself questions.

Finally if, as I heard, it was he who granted the week of vacation after the Champions League final, that's not going.

It's not up to him to give the players weeks off.

It's up to the coach.

"

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In conclusion, Luis Fernandez brings the debate back to the club's news where relations with Thomas Tuchel are far from ideal. In a last message, he slips: “That he is already trying to calm the climate and create a good atmosphere in the sports sector. It will be good for him already. That's all. "