If there’s one thing Paris Saint-Germain aren’t going to be able to do following their midweek Champions League collapse against Manchester United, it’s brush it under the carpet and hope it blows over.
For one, the media will always be there to remind them of it, much like they did with the remontada over the past two years, but a strongly voiced contingent of the fans, their ultras, have already had something to say about it on Friday, sending them a warning.
Taking to social media and writing a letter to their beloved club, the Collective Ultras Paris vented after a performance they believe has turned them into the ‘laughing stock of Europe’.
Largely placing the blame on the players, the group of fans believe the squad were ‘incapable of assuming their status and the expectations placed on them’.
For them, the Ligue 1 champions ‘failed their mission’, and they have had enough of ‘players with no pride dragging their club’s honour through the mud’.
Fiers de nos couleurs, pas de nos joueurs ! #PSGMAN pic.twitter.com/huz95SbLxT
— Collectif Ultras Paris (@Co_Ultras_Paris) March 8, 2019
While they are pleased with the continuous stream of national silverware filling their club’s cabinets, they expect ‘more respect, more fight, more professionalism and more ambition’ from Thomas Tuchel’s men.
Describing wearing the Paris Saint-Germain shirt as a ‘privilege’, the Collective Ultras Paris believe their unyielding support and that of all the club’s fans ‘deserves more than a handful of mercenaries more interested in their yearly wage than defending the club’s crest’.
In the final paragraph, they make it clear that their letter isn’t there to ‘incite hatred’ but is merely their way of expressing their feelings towards the ‘feeling of betrayal to which the players need to answer to’.
The letter is then signed off by a wonderfully penned slogan: “No values, no honour. Buy yourself some b***s or get out!”
In the meantime, over at Old Trafford, everyone is simply waiting for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to be given the Manchester United job full-time after guiding his team to the most improbable comeback in recent Champions League history.
Football will always find a way to amaze us, and how quickly things can change, for better or for worse, is part of its huge appeal.
