The smile never leaves them.
Since Sunday and the qualification for the semi-final of the Champions League acquired at the five-time defending champion, Olympique Lyonnais (0-1; 2-1), the players of PSG have won much more than a match.
This victory against the untouchables of Lyon frees them from this bitter taste of always being ahead of nothing in the league, the Coupe de France or the Champions League.
The girls trained by Olivier Echouafni are now approaching the final sprint with the ambition to win everything.
It starts this Sunday against Barça at the Camp des Loges (3 p.m.).
In the meantime, the Parisian looks back on the main stages of a different season for the Parisians.
The choice of Diani and the role of Leonardo
The current season could well have started in ... May 2020. While all professional competitions are stopped by the health crisis, things are happening on the transfer window and Kadidiatou Diani is attracting envy. OL, in particular, which would strike a blow by recruiting the French international, star of the PSG attack. Very close to discovering the Rhône, Diani finally decides to stay in Paris. A phone call changed everything.
“It's not every day that we have Leonardo on the phone, she confided in August 2020. It proves that he and the club really wanted me to stay.
It played a huge role in my decision.
The Brazilian sporting director, very involved with the women since his return, wanted to send a strong message: the PSG can keep its best elements and win everything.
Leonardo is regularly present at Bougival (Yvelines), at the training center, this season.
What also to help the players.
“His voice counts, both internally and externally,” sums up the club.
The painful defeats of summer 2020
Like the men, the Parisiennes returned to the fight in the summer to conclude the Coupe de France and the Final 8 of the Champions League after a hiatus of several months due to the health crisis.
Meanwhile, the workforce has lost Eve Périsset, right side left in Bordeaux, an important player in the locker room in speaking.
She must be replaced: Marie-Antoinette Katoto or Grace Geyoro are beginning to take on this role.
And confidence is there in the Parisian ranks for a month of August which may become historic.
From his coaching bench, Olivier Echouafni was able to appreciate the mental and sporting development of his team.
LP / Icon Sport / Anthony Dibon
But on August 9, the first failure against OL, again in the Coupe de France final (0-0, 4-3 tab).
The revenge is scheduled for the 26 of the same month in the semi-final of the Champions League, in Bilbao (Spain).
Another failure for Paris (0-1), which suffers the strength of Lyon in the game and on set piece.
Two new scars for Olivier Echouafni and his players.
The impact of executives
What if the turning point of the Parisian season had been played on September 13, 2020 in Bordeaux? Left with an unfair 0-0 (a valid goal refused, a missed penalty ...) from Gironde, the Parisians take a blow to the head on the second day of D1. But behaviors are changing. Marie-Antoinette Katoto, usually very shy in front of the cameras, takes responsibility for the draw and speaks in public. Now, no one looks at their feet and goes back to the locker room. Six months later, Echouafni summed up: “This draw brought immediate awareness. Maybe we wouldn't have had the same results behind. "
Because the PSG connects the victories, all without conceding a goal.
Goalkeeper Chris Endler, freed from competition with historic Katarzyna Kiedrzynek, asserts herself.
Captain Irene Paredes is in the shape of her life.
In the middle, Grace Geyoro evolves at high speed. And the trio of attackers, "made in" Paris, Baltimore-Katoto-Diani sweeps everything in its path.
The speech is similar for the staff and for the players: everyone feels that a "milestone has been crossed".
Two historic victories against OL
Here we are on November 20, 2020, with the reception of the OL at the Parc des Princes (9th day).
With two points behind following this draw from Bordeaux, PSG cannot lose, at the risk of seeing their dreams of the title fade away.
"We feel strong", proclaims the coach before the meeting ... and his players will prove it on the lawn by dominating OL from start to finish for, ultimately, a short success (1-0).
More than victory, the tempo imposed on the Lyonnaises confirms that the tide seems to be turning.
Until spring, the Parisiennes will assure.
🔴🔵 La importancia de esta victoria ...
Estamos in the Champions semifinals 🔥 @UWCL pic.twitter.com/X8VNp0xHWd
- Irene Paredes (@ Irene_Paredes4) April 18, 2021
And then, the Covid-19 continues to disrupt everything.
The revenge in Lyon in the league is postponed before… OL, again and again, appear at the Parc des Princes for the quarter-final first leg of the Champions League.
Formiga (43 years old!) And the Parisiennes dominate once again, but are punished by a stroke of luck at the end of the match (0-1).
What to panic?
No.
Olivier Echouafni and Bernard Mendy, his deputy, still play an important role.
Winning in Lyon is not an impossible task.
On April 18, despite the opening of the opposing score, Paris overthrows the mountain (2-1).
Two victories in the same season against OL, it's a first.
And now ?
“Being second for all these years… It gives a feeling of revenge. We want to win and it shows. The words of Chris Endler, spoken for Le Parisien in January, summarize the new state of mind that reigns in Paris. The cries of joy in the Parisian locker room in Lyon are not feigned. The relief is powerful for players like Irène Paredes, who underlines on her social networks "the importance of this victory…". “Psychologically, they lacked that little bit that unlocks everything. They had tears in their eyes because they know how far they have come, ”we say in Paris.
And now we have to win.
More than a match, a title.
In the league, everything will undoubtedly be decided in Lyon, on May 29, during this postponed meeting.
In the Champions League, it starts this Sunday at the Camp des Loges at 3 p.m. against Barça before the return, in Catalonia, Sunday, May 2.
Before, all hope, a final on May 16 in Gothenburg.
Match sheet
PSG - FC Barcelona
Champions League, semi-final first leg
This afternoon, 3 p.m., at the Georges-Lefèvre stadium
BeIN Sports 1
Referee: Ms. Zadinova (RTC).
PSG: Endler - Lawrence, Paredes (cap.), Dudek, Morroni - Däbritz, Formiga, Geyoro - Bachmann, Katoto, Baltimore.
Entr.
: Echouafni.
Barcelona: Paños - Torrejon, Pereira, Maria Leon, Ouahabi - Bonmati, Guijarro, Alexia (cap.) - Graham Hansen, Hermoso, Mariona.
Entr.
: Cortes.
