Nothing is going well at Paris Saint-Germain. More than ten days after elimination in the Champions League against Real Madrid (3-2 on aggregate), PSG lost heavily to Monaco (3-0) on Sunday March 20. After the match counting for the 29th day of Ligue 1, the reactions, unanimous, illustrated the bad patch that the capital club is going through.
From the start of the meeting, the Parisians were overwhelmed in intensity and in spirit. The two are intimately linked. After ten minutes, Monaco had already obtained several big chances. “It’s unacceptable to start the game like this.coach Mauricio Pochettino said at a press conference. There is sporting shame and in relation to the competition. We have to get out of the frustration of elimination in the Champions League.”
“We can win 8-0 or 9-0, people will still think of the Champions Leaguecommented Kylian Mbappé at the microphone of Prime Video. We must remain pros, respect the supporters who support us, the people, our families. I think you have to respect yourself already. It is important. If we have a minimum of esteem for what we do and what we are, we must respect each other.” Already strongly booed at the Parc des Princes by their supporters last weekend despite the victory against Bordeaux (3-0), the Parisians, deprived of Lionel Messi (ill), were unable to react.
Unlike Monaco, logically eliminated by Braga (3-1 aggregate) in the knockout stages of the Europa League, Thursday March 17. “It’s unacceptable, against a team that wanted to react when they were affected after being eliminatedcontinued Mauricio Pochettino. This cannot be repeated again. We can still lose games. But what happened must not and cannot happen again. Because it’s serious.”
“It’s catastrophic. It’s hard to digest. It’s our worst game of the year.”
Marquinhosat a press conference
Captain Marquinhos, however, refuted the argument of decompression after the failure in C1 to explain the poor performance. “It’s not a slack. (…) There were a lot of expectations (against Real Madrid). It’s a defeat that hurts us. Now we have goals to look for. We have to do our best, with the right mentality.”
Thirteen points ahead of its runner-up, Stade Rennais, Paris still retains a significant margin to clinch the Ligue 1 title. But with three defeats (four in Ligue 1 this season) in the last five days, the crisis is clearly brewing. “If we continue to perform like this, it’s sure that the title is in danger.even assured Marquinhos. The alert is there. We will have to come back, after the selections, with a good state of mind.”
After the international break, PSG will have two a priori easy matches (reception of Lorient and trip to Clermont) before receiving Olympique de Marseille for the Classic of the championship. Already Neymar’s teammates are guaranteed to have the club’s worst season since 2012-2013 (only one title, in Ligue 1). To regain the support of their supporters, they will have every interest in showing something else against the Marseille rival.