If the peculiarity of the big clubs is to always be there, no doubt: the Paris-SG is one of them. Two hours after the defeat (1-2) of the team coached by Thomas Tuchel in Dortmund, in the round of 16 first leg of the Champions League, the brother of a Presnel Kimpembé aligned for the first time of the season in a defense to three central, which did not make a hit on Wednesday, attacked the German coach on Instagram in unambiguous words: “Go fuck your mother, son of a bitch!” Thereafter, we distinctly hear the word “joke” dropped twice by the same, as if to diminish the scope of the message. Finally, it happened anyway.
The Parisian environment rocked somewhat into chaos after the game. According to what we wrote before the match, Neymar was perfectly able to play since February 7, the date of his return to training after a “Chondrocostal lesion” (the Parisian club is scrupulously cited) received six days earlier against the Montpellier Hérault in Paris. The fact that he did not play a minute before Dortmund was therefore a somewhat superstitious political choice (Neymar had missed all or part of the last two knockout stages of Paris-SG, meeting sanctioned by elimination ) and, in the general opinion and especially of his, the Brazilian was not in condition Tuesday, slow, at the wrong time. “It’s hard to stay four games without playing, found the player. Unfortunately, it was not my choice, it was something of the club, the doctors, they were the ones who made the decision and I didn’t like it. We had a lot of discussions on this. I wanted to play. I felt good but the club was afraid. And I’m the one who suffers in the end. “ A little corporate speech but it must be understood that at this point, since it was he who dragged himself before the cameras on the ground, he does not care.
Lightness
Useless to put the decision on the back of Tuchel, that Neymar carefully avoids to quote: the German made understand on almost all the tones that he would have liked to align it in Lyon (on February 9) or in Dijon in the Cup (February 12), or even in Amiens on Saturday, to gradually re-athletize his striker. So you have to look at the side of the “club” (sports director Leonardo, who must speak urgently on this) or “doctors”. Last but not least, while Neymar lit the match in the mixed zone, the Belgian defender Thomas Meunier explained to his compatriots the last hour that he had not been made aware of the fact that a yellow card in Dortmund would prevent him from returning, which did not fail to happen. A slightly light approach from the technical staff and a huge rock in Tuchel’s garden, even if the player could have asked himself the question.
In short: a low-noise crisis, all the more pointless since the result of the first leg leaves the door open to a qualification after the return match on March 11. There remains the impression left by a slightly intense, strangely worn Paris-SG. And overtaken by a form of inhibition to say the least. “We lack a little confidence, I have the same impression as you [les journalistes], conceded Tuchel. We played today with too much fear of making a mistake. It’s not good, we have to think about finding solutions. If you think too much about not making mistakes, you make too many mistakes. We lost our confidence with too easy balloons. I do not know why.” His predecessor, Unai Emery, can probably help him a bit: it’s been the same story since 2017.
Grégory Schneider
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