The tremors of the Galtier affair do not affect the dynamics of a Paris Saint-Germain which, with its eight points lead over the dolphin Marseille, can get closer to an eleventh title in Ligue 1, Friday (9:00 p.m. ) in Angers, at the red lantern. In Anjou, a lull would be welcome for the Parisian club, far from the unpleasant background noise surrounding its coach Christophe Galtier, suspected of having made discriminatory remarks during his time at OGC Nice last season.
“I am very focused on work. Work allows you to be active. I am very active with the staff, with the players. I also plan for the future, I have a lot of work to do in this direction. My brain is constantly active to be focused on the matches to get this title”, replied the person concerned, Thursday in front of the press.
Clash of extremes
At the Raymond-Kopa stadium, often sparse this season, it will be a clash of extremes: PSG, leader with 72 points, face the last in the championship, SCO d’Angers (14 points), which could be officially relegated to the League 2 from Sunday. If they make the splits in the standings, the two clubs agree on one thing this season: extra-sporting crises. The SCO is notably undermined by the legal setbacks of its ex-president Saïd Chabane or by the sexist remarks of its former coach Abdel Bouhazama, during a pre-match chat in March.
This is also the case for the Parisian club. Beyond the sporting disappointments (elimination in the Champions League and the Coupe de France), PSG suffered several explosions, from the indictment for rape of Achraf Hakimi, officially supported by PSG, to the speaking out of his star Kylian Mbappé, opposed to the club on the issue of image rights in the context of the renewal campaign. The Galtier case is the latest, and not the least. This storm was triggered last week with the revelation of alleged discriminatory, racist and Islamophobic remarks made by Galtier when he was coaching OGC Nice (2021-2022). Here too, PSG openly supported its employee.
Galtier “projects” with PSG
In an email to the management of the Nice club revealed by the independent journalist Romain Molina then RMC, which AFP could not authenticate, the former sports director of the Aiglons Julien Fournier, with whom Galtier had execrable relations, said in particular reported these remarks attributed to the technician: “+ He then replied that I had to take into account the reality of the city and that indeed, we could not have so many blacks and Muslims in the team +” and “+ he told me of his desire to change the team in depth, also specifying that he wanted to limit the number of Muslim players as much as possible +”.
A preliminary investigation was opened last Friday by the Nice prosecutor’s office for suspicion of “discrimination based on an alleged race or membership of a religion”. These extra-sporting turbulence, coupled with the disappointing results, cast a veil of uncertainty over Galtier, under contract in Paris until 2024. “Am I convinced of being the coach next season? I plan to to be the coach of next season at PSG”, he replied on Thursday.
Put on a better face
On the pitch, his men did not always show their best face on Saturday against Lens (3-1), despite their second success in a row. In the first period, they folded the match with three goals in ten minutes after the expulsion of a Lensois but returned to their faults as soon as they returned from the locker room, without impact and overwhelmed in defense. Mbappé, co-top scorer in Ligue 1, and his teammates might want to do better on Friday to end this failed season on a better note and return to the level of the rather successful first part.
But they will have to do without their defender Nuno Mendes, affected on the muscular level and forfeited against Angers, when he was the most on his legs in recent meetings on his left side. Midfielder Marco Verratti, absent the last two games, is however back.