Spirit are you there?
Still there, to bewitch Mosson with this sap that made the “Theater of Dreams” nightmarish?
Three days after taking back its European destiny in hand in Manchester, Paris cannot allow itself a banal return to the ordinary this weekend.
Because although he has the taste of others, the appointment offered to Neymar and his gang, this Saturday in Montpellier, exudes a particular flavor.
Planted, between Manchester and Basaksehir, “two very important matches” according to Thomas Tuchel, this 13th day of Ligue 1 is even poles apart from previous ones, often responsible for creating certainties for continental games.
This time, it is first of all not to deconstruct what they have taken weeks to rebuild.
So that the match which will have to seal its qualification in the knockout stages of the Champions League on Tuesday evening does not take a dirty air of fear and remains "a formality", the champion of France will have little choice.
A double stake
No matter the men, that Sarabia (ischios), Icardi (adductors) and Bernat (knee) are still absent.
Let Marco Verratti breathe to prevent a relapse.
That Kylian Mbappé (possibly) does a little bench and that there is, as Tuchel warned, “maybe change” in the starting XI.
Paris will have to make a “copy” of the conquering and united state of mind displayed on Wednesday at Old Trafford to “paste” it this Saturday in the Hérault.
Because obviously the stake is twofold.
Too much, perhaps, to seek excuses, to focus on the schedule, injuries, criticism and all the headwinds, PSG unwittingly (re) invited the suspense in Ligue 1. And thereby, gave back smile and ambition to compete.
The three defeats and the draw conceded since the resumption "offer" indeed only two small steps ahead of the nine-time champion of France over Lille, Lyon, Monaco and Montpellier, his host of the weekend.
Enamelled, in the past, of some provocations between players, the poster does not feed on the same spice, although Andy Delort, absent since positive for Covid-19, tried to raise the sauce by revealing on social networks that "Paredes missed [him] so much".
As unexpected as it may seem, it is for Paris not to lose its mind.
In every sense of the term.
