Arrived hand in hand to accompany Paris Saint-Germain in a new era, less “bling-bling”, coach Christophe Galtier and “football adviser” Luis Campos failed like their predecessors in the ultimate quest for a first Champions League. The elimination by Bayern Munich in the knockout stages of the Champions League on Wednesday completes the failure of the Franco-Portuguese duo’s season I, between results below the objectives set and unconvincing recruitment.
The arrival of the pair, last summer, was however to symbolize a small revolution at the club of the capital: “We no longer want flashy, bling-bling, it’s the end of glitter”, had warned the president Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, supporter of a radical turn after the departures of coach Mauricio Pochettino and sporting director Leonardo. Eight months later, Galtier and Campos are at the same point as Pochettino and Leonardo: Paris, out of the Coupe de France, is eliminated in the Champions League, set up by the Qatari owners as an absolute objective when they arrive in 2011.
“My future depends on…”
Can Christophe Galtier pay for this failure or will he get some patience from Qatar? The debates on his inexperience at the highest level are in any case likely to resurface, his CV only counting national trophies (champion of France with Lille in 2021, Coupe de la Ligue with Saint-Etienne in 2013).
“My future necessarily depends on my management, my president,” he said Wednesday evening at the microphone of Canal + after the elimination. “There is obviously disappointment. I’m staying the course, I’m still focused on the end of the season, with energy and determination.”
Inexperience
Recognized for his coaching qualities in France, Galtier remains a novice on the European scene, with only two Champions League campaigns, the first with Lille, already unconvincing. Galtier was also supposed to embody a change of method in the management of the workforce and the oversized egos of the stars of the locker room. But after several weeks without false notes, the intensity and the game in Paris quickly deteriorated. And the long cut due to the World Cup this fall in Qatar has not helped.
Since the start of the season, the coach’s results seem quite far from the mark: he has suffered some significant defeats, at Lens, Rennes and against Monaco in the league, at Marseille in the Cup, a first for more than ten years. And inevitably, the traditional spring rumors around the recomposition of the Parisian club are likely to sprout again. Especially since Zinédine Zidane, already approached last year, has remained free since leaving Real Madrid in 2021.
“My desire is to resume, to have a project. Today I have time, but I don’t know until when,” said the man who won three Champions League in a row in mid-February. the head of Real. Leaving some hope to the fund Qatar Sports Investments (QSI).
Fate bound
The future of Galtier seems closely linked to that of Luis Campos, who brought the former Lille coach in his luggage. In the eyes of the owners and despite some differences, especially when Campos came to the edge of the field to harangue the players during the victory against Lille (4-3), the two men appear as a pair. “There is no technical-tactical intervention, there is passion, passion, passion,” reacted Galtier, defending the “football adviser” of the capital club.
Campos also intervened in the Paris locker room during the defeat to Marseille (2-1) in early February, angering some players including Neymar, now injured. Even if he was not helped by the state of Parisian finances (nearly 370 million losses during the 2021-2022 season), watched very closely by the financial fair play set up by UEFA , Leonardo’s successor is widely criticized for his recruitment. After the failure of the previous two, the Portuguese would already be active in the next summer transfer window. But will he still be there?