Failing to be able to travel to the Vélodrome stadium to attend the round of 16 of the Coupe de France between OM and PSG this Wednesday (9:10 p.m.), the Parisian supporters, and in particular the members of the CUP (Collectif ultras Paris) have chosen to support the players before their plane trip to Bouches-du-Rhône.
Accompanied by drums and smoke bombs, they sang for Marquinhos and his comrades after greeting Luis Campos, the club’s football adviser and coach Christophe Galtier, who will return to the Vélodrome this Wednesday evening where he played as players with OM.
This beautiful communion before this enticing meeting between OM and PSG, also gave rise to an important moment of exchange between Romain Mabille, president of the CUP with Neymar and Messi. On Twitter, @Djaameel56 thus reported that Romain Mabille had “passed in front of the players to encourage them” and that an encouragement had “lasted longer for a player: Neymar with whom he was able to have a little discussion”.
Many supporters immediately saw in this exchange the beginning of a possible reconciliation between the Brazilian and the cold CUP since Neymar had wanted to leave for Barcelona in the summer of 2019. The player had been violently disliked by the regulars of the Virage Auteuil. His mother had even been insulted by a banner. This Monday, in the 100% PSG program on France Bleu Paris, Romain Mabille admitted: “The banner is hard. We were tough.”
To explain the break, the president of the ultras recalled that when he arrived in 2017, “people gave him so much love at the start” and that the episode of “his real-false start at Barça” had broken this idyll. “In the entourage of Neymar, the club or the stand, no one has done more than me to restore the situation, also advanced Mabille. I did not have any answer. There is a desire to let this situation rot, I don’t know why. »
Last season’s CUP whistles against Messi and the Brazilian after elimination in Madrid hadn’t helped matters or resulted in either player rushing to greet fans at the end of games. “He got into something, I don’t know how we’re going to get out of it, Romain Mabille also said on France Bleu Paris. Neymar walks emotionally. We really could have had a different relationship with him. To fix things, someone needs a will. The best players don’t respect us. How do we move forward? The opening steps, we do them. But you can’t fix things alone. »
The president of the CUP had concluded: “Yes there is a problem between the ultras, Messi and Neymar”. This Clasico Wednesday may have been an opportunity to warm up these relations. With the approach of the round of 16 first leg of the Champions League against Bayern next Tuesday, this would be great news.