A record tenth title in a silent stadium. PSG has once again proven that it is not a club like the others by being crowned champion of France without the support of its ultras, close to the break with their team, players as management. To the heavy silence that has reigned at the Parc des Princes since the elimination of the Champions League – and the encouragement strike that followed – was added this Saturday evening a new act of defiance by groups of supporters preferring to celebrate the title out of the stadium and without their team, unable to win against Lens reduced to ten (1-1).
No lap of honour, a stadium quickly emptied of its supporters after the match… Nothing to do with the usual scenes of jubilation for this type of sporting achievement.
The ultras leave the stadium
It took a splendid goal from Lionel Messi, a superpowered curling strike from 25 yards, to wake up the stadium. But this stunt, one of the rare sevenfold Ballon d’Or since his arrival last summer in Paris, was not enough to hold back the Auteuil turn which repacked its tarpaulin seven minutes after the opening of the score before his eyes.
As announced by the Collectif ultras Paris (CUP), the ultras left their stands in the 75th minute to gather on the forecourt outside the stadium to celebrate this tenth title of champion of France allowing PSG to equal the record of Saint Etienne. Firecrackers exploded at the gate of the bend where hundreds of supporters sang in the light of a large display of smoke bombs and fireworks.
A gap separating the Parisian fans from their team, players as management, widened throughout the season marked by hiccups, between the loss of the Champions Trophy and the elimination in the round of 16 of the Coupe de France, by a low quality of play and finally by a new disillusionment in the Champions League. Even before the debacle in the round of 16 return from C1 to Madrid, a scathing press release from the CUP and banners in the stands had questioned the club’s management. A novelty since the return of the ultras to the Park in 2016.
A lapidary text by the Collectif ultras Paris mocked a “club that stacks the stars like a spoiled child”. Turning messages lamented them “overpaid mercenaries” believed that Leonardo had come “time to clear”.
The many flat matches were often saved by the exploits of Kylian Mbappé. Only the future of the 23-year-old crack, at the end of the contract in two months, could be written far from the door of Saint-Cloud. To a disappointing season, there is therefore an uncertain future.