Accompanied by copious whistles from the Parc des Princes, the success of Paris SG against Bordeaux (3-0) will not erase the European rout against Real Madrid or the current crisis but will be remembered for the affront to Lionel Messi. The seven-time Ballon d’Or was booed like never before in his career, even in the rare bad times with Argentina, by his own supporters, whistled at each touch of the ball. Admittedly, PSG are 15 points ahead of Nice in the lead, but the tenth coronation in Ligue 1 which is looming will not appease their frustration.
Only Kylian Mbappé escaped the wrath of the supporters
It is not forgiven Messi, flagship rookie of the summer, for having sunk with the rest of the ship in Madrid (3-1), against Real, Wednesday, precipitating the elimination in the round of 16 of the League of champions, while PSG mastered their opponent (1-0 in the first leg). Neymar, author of the second goal (52nd), suffered a bronca equivalent to the “Pulga”, but the Brazilian had already been chastised throughout his turbulent history with Paris. Only Kylian Mbappé escaped the wrath of the supporters, cheering him on every ball and scoring on the opener (24th).
The public there signified their love for their best player of the season, the fear that he would go free in June having taken on horror film dimensions after this new rout in C1. The essential number 7 also scored on an action initiated by Messi with a subtle relay from Georginio Wijnaldum, two of the “plague victims” of the day.
The Parisian kop partially emptied at the break
The Auteuil turn took out a banner “Mbappé in Paris, Leonardo in the pillory”, aimed at the sports director whose mission to convince “Kyky” to extend seems more and more compromised. The only tunes descended from the Auteuil bend were offensive: “Leaders resign!”, “A team in Paris” and insults to the team. Auteuil also sang “Paris c’est nous!”. The Parisian kop, partially emptied just before the break, also did not celebrate Neymar’s goal, celebrated with a furious fist and where Messi is still the penultimate pass, nor that of Leandro Paredes (61st) , after a nice hook to open the way to the goal.
The rest of the stadium more frankly celebrated the two and third goals, but “Ney” and Messi, who also shot the post (87th), were whistled until the end. In an attempt to initiate the takeover, coach Mauricio Pochettino had chosen the same team as in Madrid except for two elements. He explained that it was important for his leaders to be able to “vent the frustration” of Santiago-Bernabéu.
In goal, Keylor Navas assured
In goal, Gianluigi Donnarumma, at fault in Madrid’s equalizer, gave way to Keylor Navas, as part of the rotation of goalkeepers. The Costa Rican succeeded in his match, with a good entry save in front of Rémi Oudin (2nd), and another in front of Yacine Adli (79th). He also made good saves on actions where the Bordeaux were offside: good for the confidence of Navas, frustrated not to be aligned in Madrid. In the middle, Marco Verratti, suspended, was replaced by Georginio Wijnaldum, decisive passer on Mbappé’s goal. The Dutchman thought he was getting a penalty for a foul by Marcelo, but his passer, Neymar, was finally flagged offside (55th).
Even if this does not erase anything from Madrid, PSG therefore won again after a big European failure, as in 2017 after the comeback of Barcelona (6-1, 4-0 victory in the first leg), as in 2019 after the new disaster against Manchester United (3-1, 2-0 first leg victory). The Bordelais would like to have club crises eliminated in the knockout stages of the Champions League: their own crisis leads them to Ligue 2 if they do not wake up.