It is high time to rekindle the stars.
Less than a week after its offensive show in Munich (3-2), PSG must continue to advance and propel its opponent into the ravine, this defending Bayern Munich, six times European champion, and angry as never by the result of the quarterfinal first leg.
Paris meets the Hulk this Tuesday evening, as strong and overwhelmed by anger as when he transforms.
A "Bayexit" would be a huge achievement and would count for the future, in the life of the club in the capital.
And not only financially, even if an additional 15 to 20 million euros would fill the coffers, an essential breath of air at the time of the pandemic.
Favorite status, enhanced image
Getting into the last four of the competition after a final in 2020, even after a modified format (dry match from the quarters), would allow Paris to change status.
Even more with the identity of the eliminated club, this Bayern Munich scarecrow of the test, recently winner of the Club World Cup.
Most specialists have considered the German team to be the best team in the world for over a year.
We do not know if this is true but in any case, it is not false.
With Barcelona and Bayern Munich, two huge Champions League teams, regularly favorites, PSG would become a natural favorite, on the same level as Real Madrid.
Already a form of consecration.
In Europe, the club's notoriety has long been confined to a constellation of stars first gathered for money, after for sport.
A success would sweep away this image, at a time when PSG is "now one of the ten football clubs of the highest values according to the Forbes ranking unveiled this Monday by the leading economic magazine," Paris said in a statement.
In Germany, its Ligue 1 matches are broadcast by DAZN and are very successful.
They are followed more locally than the domestic releases of Real Madrid or Juventus Turin.
The proof of a real curiosity, of a Kylian Mbappé effect, very appreciated in the country, of a weariness for adults and the attraction of novelty.
This inversion of the curves would be accentuated with a qualification.
Guarantees for Mbappé
The world champion must make a difficult choice in the coming weeks: leave a club and a city that represent a lot in his life and his career or join one of the historic clubs of the Old Continent, Real Madrid in the lead.
Aware that he will receive roughly the same amount wherever he (re) signs, he leads a sporting reflection, based on criteria of game, team, environment, transfer window.
He wants to feel that he is participating or joining a competitive eleven, capable of winning all the goals.
The Champions League as a priority, then the championship.
To appear two years in a row in the last four teams capable of lifting the C1 would show a form of permanence at the very high level of PSG.
With two different coaches, partners who have changed (exit Thiago Silva, Thomas Meunier, Edinson Cavani or Eric Choupo-Moting; place for Alessandro Florenzi, Danilo Pereira, Rafinha and Moise Kean), this new club semi-final would indicate that the he desire or even the European obsession goes beyond contingencies.
As if PSG had finally conquered fear, the one that Bondy's crack stigmatized when it was necessary to win (2-0) at Manchester United in February 2019 without Neymar or Edinson Cavani.
Deprived of Neymar (again) or Di Maria in Barcelona, without Marquinhos back against Bayern, Paris can get there because it is crossed more by a collective force than individual flashes.
In short, eliminating the defending champion would give him guarantees.
Especially since Mauricio Pochettino, unlike Thomas Tuchel, is changing the face of PSG by focusing the game more on the strengths of Kylian Mbappé than those of Neymar.
It may be too late but it can only seduce the international striker.
Credibility for Pochettino
At PSG, no one doubts the qualities of Mauricio Pochettino, neither the leaders nor the locker room.
He comes out reinforced by his choices (tenure of Moise Kean in Barcelona, Abdou Diallo on the side, Marco Verratti above, relaunch of Danilo Pereira) and his essential victories at Camp Nou, Lyon or Munich.
But the possible loss of the French Championship (he has already suffered four defeats against Lorient, Monaco, Nantes and Lille), with a style less identifiable in L 1 than in Europe, could come back to him like a boomerang.
Especially since he opened the umbrella in a totally unexpected way in our columns on April 2, declaring: “Next year, they can judge me. “The Argentinian knows all too well what job he has and where he has set foot: it does not happen like that, especially when we come to the truce, with half a season to accomplish. Everything that happens now is his responsibility, the good as well as the bad. At Chelsea, no one attributes Thomas Tuchel's current success to the legacy left by Frank Lampard. A qualification would considerably strengthen the Argentine and serve as a bumper in case of domestic worries.
