Parisians faced difficulties after the New Year.
Paris Saint-Germain will have to start the decisive stage of the Champions League today: in the first stage of the playoffs, the mighty Bayern collided with the French giant. The fact that the Parisians lack the character to reach the final and win the main European Cup, everyone knows – that’s why today’s match becomes even more important. True, it seems that Christophe Galtier’s wards are approaching the match in far from optimal conditions.
The defeats have rained
Until January, the capital’s club never lost in official matches – the Parisians easily passed Ligue 1 and entered Champions League staged battles with Benfica, fighting for first place in the group. The first defeat happened right after the New Year – PSG lost to Lance with a score of 1:3.
Two weeks later came the second, this time from Rennes (0:1). In the next round – 1:1 against Reims. The advantage in the national championship was fading before our eyes: if by the end of December Christophe Galtier’s wards were 7 points ahead of the closest pursuer, then by the end of the 20th round the gap was only 3 points.
February for Paris Saint-Germain began with a departure from the Cup of the country and continued with a defeat against Monaco (1: 3), a team whose squad cost is lower than that of PSGalmost 3 times.
The result of the last match infuriated the coach of the French giant Christophe Galtier:
I’m furious at the disastrous start. After our goal there was hope, but we conceded the 3rd goal due to a counterattack. It’s hard to catch up with 1:3. That’s why I’m angry. We have an important match on Tuesday (against Bayern), we need unity to have energy and self-confidence. It also needs players to come back. With the resumption of the championship we started missing a lot, we have to find a balance. In the 2nd half we didn’t shoot on goal, there was no reaction to what was happening. This game is not enough.
At the moment, in addition to the Parisians, Monaco and Marseille are placed in the top 3, and the detachment of the latter from the leaders of the French championship of 5 points is more a defect of the pursuers than a merit PSG.
Personnel problems affected the club’s stagnation
They all had them – City in Premier League After world Cup-2022, in general, I had to play 3 rounds in a week and a half and play in cup tournaments at the same time. Paris Saint-Germain lost to Lens when Lionel Messi and Neymar had not yet returned to the squad.
Already in February it became known that some players PSG an intestinal virus was discovered and Leo himself missed the match against Monaco due to muscle fatigue. Before that, Neymar was out for two matches (for Montpellier and Toulouse) with muscle strain. Mbappé did not play against Toulouse or Monaco while recovering from a hamstring injury.
The leaders of the great Frenchman fall out of the main clip for a short time (and not all at once), but because of this the Parisians have big problems. Furthermore, until recently there was no certainty that Messi and Mbappé would play for Bayern. Here’s what Galtier has to say about Kilian’s condition:
Formed into a group, led the whole class. Impressions are very positive. As for his presence in the candidacy, we will evaluate tomorrow morning. We’ll ask Kilian first, then we’ll talk to the medical staff. Now I’m talking to you and I don’t know if it will be in the question. But if there is, then to play and not to scare Bayern.
According to the latest data, the Frenchman and Leo are ready to play Champions League – AS PSG it will be a little easier.
Conflicts again
Apparently, against the background of the first defeats of the season, the players had accumulated grievances against each other – this resulted in a conflict after the match with Monaco. Second mass media, Neymar, Marquinhos and the club’s football consultant Luis Kampos became its active participants. The conversation between the official and the players was loud and accompanied by vulgar phrases. Subsequently, information appeared that the Brazilian striker of the Parisians during the match with the Monegasques rudely criticized the actions of Vitinha and Hugo Ekitike.
Ney later confirmed that there had been an argument between him and Kampusch:
It happened. We didn’t agree with what we were told then, so we discussed it. Sometimes there are things that end up in the press and can go viral really fast. When this happens, we get angry. This is my 6th season here at PSGand it is difficult. We have to understand what is happening. These things shouldn’t go beyond the locker room. Is sad.
There are concerns that in PSG returned to the starting point. In the recent past, the team was divided into camps – because of this, conflicts often occurred, and the best players could not show the result. None of the previous mentors of the great Frenchman faced this problem.
After the appointment of Christophe Galtier as head coach, there was hope for a fix – the specialist was quite pragmatic and immediately got down to solving the team’s problems. It was possible to get rid of the division into camps, the rumors about the tense relationship between Neymar and Mbappe subsided. All this resulted in a very quiet autumn, but after the first difficulties the Parisians risk falling back to their original positions – and this is even worse against the backdrop of the upcoming playoff match. Champions League against Bayern.
