It’s now been well over a week since Manchester United beat PSG 3-1 in Paris and knocked the French club out of the Champions League, and yet still there’s articles in the club’s local media about the struggle to get over it.
On Sunday evening, PSG are back at the Parc des Princes, and ahead of the match, L’Equipe spoke to fans and people connected with the club. The reaction to losing to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side is still dramatic… to say the least.
The French newspaper says ‘most supporters cannot digest’ the defeat to Manchester United.
Nicolas Lance, a 37 year old fan who was at the match says the referee signalling for a penalty, after Diogo Dalot’s shot hit Presnel Kimpembe’s arm, “still haunts my nights”.
He added: “The cries of joy of the Mancunians on the right, the Parisians who collapse in a heap. In the subway, a heavy silence, lost looks, a supporter who takes his head in his hands… The next day, I lock myself in my office and keep asking myself how that could happen. Some colleagues do not even dare to approach me and my girlfriend doesn’t understand that I can put myself in such a state.
“I vowed not to go back and waste my time at the Parc to support those players who ridiculed this magnificent club.”
Philippe Goguet, who founded the news source CulturePSG, knew it was a penalty as soon as the ball hit Kimpembe’s hand, L’Equipe quote him as saying: “It’s over, we’re f*****, I know my club too well.”
Baptiste Desplanque, a season ticket holder, said of the aftermath: “It looked like a funeral march, it’s horrible, Paris is sad.”
Seemingly siding with the dramatic testimonies, L’Equipe say: ‘After the sadness comes misunderstanding, then anger; natural progression of the humiliated supporter.’
They’re making the aftermath of defeat to Manchester United sound very much like a grieving process.
Should PSG not beat Marseille, at home on Sunday evening, L’Equipe say ‘it could become a hellish circus’.
There seems to be a feeling of entitlement around the French club regarding the Champions League, and a genuine shock they haven’t yet won the competition or come seriously close to doing so.
That then leads to a huge backlash when results like the Manchester United defeat happen, and potentially puts extra pressure on players, creating nerves and building doubts for the future.
