2023-05-28 06:00:31
On June 21, 2022, the players of Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) have not yet returned to training, but their president already has a small idea of what the coming season will look like. “We no longer want flashy, bling-bling, it’s the end of glitterexplains Nasser Al-Khelaïfi au Parisian. We expect all players to do much more than last season. Much more ! »
The new duo formed by the Portuguese Luis Campos and the French Christophe Galtier, respectively “football adviser” and coach, must embody this change. It will be “The collective first, no compromise”, abounds the technician on his arrival. At PSG, summer is the time of promises not yet disappointed…
On Saturday May 27, the Parisians played their penultimate Ligue 1 match of the season and, at the time of the assessment, this 2022-2023 exercise looks like a copy and paste of the previous one: elimination in the round of 16 in the Coupe de France , then in the Champions League, and a title of champion of France greeted with polite indifference.
One year ago, Paris and the Parc des Princes were not really a party. The Parisians – Lionel Messi among the most in a hurry – spun into the locker room without hugs or lap of honor after a draw against Lens (1-1). However, they had just equaled AS Saint-Etienne’s record with a tenth national title. It’s still after a draw, Strasbourg, on the same score (1-1), as Kylian Mbappé and his teammates won the eleventh. If this time, at the La Meinau stadium, the joy was in order, it is above all because the evening hosts validated at the same time their maintenance in the elite.
Last week, in the spans of the Abbé-Deschamps stadium, after a narrow success over Auxerre (1-2), Captain Marquinhos had tried to give some perspective to the results of his team: “It’s not PSG’s best season, but it’s still a good season. » The statistics do not contradict this. In thirty-seven days, the Parisians have never let go of first place in the championship. They already have 85 points, display the best attack (87 goals scored), Kylian Mbappé is the current top scorer (28 goals) and Lionel Messi the best passer (16 assists).
Still, behind the smiles of circumstance points a certain bitterness. Lack of frank domination, added to intentions of play and recruitment too far from ambitions, this year again, the overall balance sheet is not up to the means invested – the 700 million euros budget announced at the start of the season represent 30% of the combined budget of the twenty Ligue 1 clubs. At this stage, the absence of a coherent sports policy does not bode well for the future.
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