Is there a pilot on the PSG plane?


CLASSIC. Before facing OM for a clash at the top of L1 this Sunday at 8:45 p.m., Paris Saint-Germain is facing a lot of turbulence.





By Adrian Mathieu

Despite their invincibility since the start of the season, PSG faces many extra-sporting problems.
 © FRANCK FIFE / AFP

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Dambient role before playing a Clasico against Olympique de Marseille. This Friday in front of the press, Christophe Galtier urged journalists to ask him questions about the athlete and the field. “What I want to tell you is that you never talk about football. You – the media – ask me a lot of questions […] Finally, I realize that match after match, conference after conference, we have to talk about football for a minute and a half on conferences that last ten or fifteen minutes. »

Unfortunately, it was a waste of time in the face of the increasingly burning non-sporting news of PSG: an investigation into a digital army revealed by Mediapart, Kylian Mbappé’s desire to leave or even the silence of its leaders. The 56-year-old coach is coping against all odds as the Parisian ship rocks seriously.

Luis Campos, the only leader to speak

However, his start to the season at the head of the capital club raised a lot of hopes. After a flamboyant month of August, PSG experienced some underperformance but stayed the course by remaining at the top of Ligue 1 and its group in the Champions League. Still undefeated, and with the return to great shape of the Messi-Neymar duo, Christophe Galtier should be able to rest on his laurels…

But history is an eternal beginning for Paris Saint-Germain, and periods of calm are always very short. After such an eventful week, the Parisian coach has prepared for Sunday evening’s Clasico against OM (8:45 p.m.) somehow, with in particular the expected return of the defense to 4. If he tries to cover as he can his club and his leaders, we have to face the facts: Galtier will not be able to hold this position for long.

Apart from Luis Campos, the new PSG football adviser, who has timidly denied rumors of Mbappé’s departure, no one in the Parisian staff speaks as the mess has intensified. Silent while many cases affect him directly, President Nasser al-Khelaïfi remains in the background for the moment. According to the newspaper The Team, he was still present in Paris this week, in particular to show Marco Verratti and his teammates the club’s future training center which will open its doors next summer in Poissy. But without speaking out to bang the table, the situation remains very vague in the capital.

The same goes for Jean-Claude Blanc, who has not made a media appearance since last June. With his eleven years of seniority as executive director of Paris Saint-Germain, he experienced all the ups and downs of the QSI period. If his influence has diminished slightly over the years, his word could still have been valuable in this troubled period. And if we add to that the Hamraoui-Diallo affair which hits the women’s section hard, nothing is definitely spared at PSG.

Nasser al-Khelaïfi had promised the end of the “bling-bling”

However, last June, in an interview granted to the Parisian, al-Khelaïfi had announced a change of course for his club, which also had to show a little more sobriety. “The dream is one thing, the reality another. Maybe we should change our slogan… Dream Bigger [rêver plus grand], that’s good, but today, we must above all be realistic, we no longer want flashy, bling-bling, it’s the end of glitter. We have done great things for eleven years, but each year, we have to ask ourselves how to progress, how to be better. Caught up in controversy, the Qatari leader has so far been unable to keep his promises.

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If internally the tremors are numerous and intense, Kylian Mbappé and his family are holding out for the moment. Despite the slight fall slack, they are still in an ideal position before starting the final sprint until the international break of the World Cup: seven games to play in less than a month. With the spotlights which will soon be on the selections, the PSG will offer themselves a little respite and will above all be able to take a step back from their tumultuous daily life. It remains to be seen whether strong decisions will result from this.





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