When Nasser Al-Khelaifi takes the time to respond to all the media in the corridors of the Parc des Princes, it is because it is either about putting out a fire or savoring his success. Let's not talk about triumph yet, it's far too early for that but it was enough to see NAK's radiant face to understand that something had happened on Wednesday.
The president who makes the rounds of the kitchens, the players who celebrate the victory as a qualification, the Park which vibrates as rarely: the success against City (4-2) will remain a strong marker, an important milestone in the new history of PSG… if Luis Enrique's men stay the course in Stuttgart next week.
In the meantime, we can believe that history has changed. For a whole bunch of reasons: Paris scored 40% of its goals in C1 in 33 minutes and against the English champion, Ousmane Dembélé and Bradley Barcola seem to have broken a deadlock in their history with Paris and the C1, Joao Neves signed its first great masterpiece with PSG and the team has finally combined game control with realism. It's as if the French champions had moved from words to action.
Paris is truly an exceptional team
The coach called for patience, causing tension and even incomprehension, even in his group in the heart of autumn, but Wednesday evening proved him right. Particularly on the question of the false nine. If Kang-In Lee remained discreet and Gonçalo Ramos scored, “they had one more player in the middle, it was difficult to control this sector. Their game in transition was way too fast for us, we couldn't defend“, recognized Guardiola, also a champion of possession, but equipped with a professional center forward in Erling Haaland.
“If we can do this to City, we can do it to any team“, warned Luis Enrique whose project took on its full meaning. Especially since it was validated by Pep Guardiola before and after the meeting: “PAris is truly an exceptional team, they were more intense, more aggressive, more competitive. They deserved to win this match.“
If even the most influential coach of the 21st century says it, it's because Paris can see it coming. This success will give momentum to Paris and the confidence that it lacked so much when it came time to conclude. This is the other virtue, undoubtedly the most fundamental, of this benchmark success. “It's one of the craziest matches since I've been here, the feeling of the comeback was incredible“, acknowledged Achraf Hakimi.
-This match will strengthen my players
“This match will strengthen my playersrightly underlined the Parisian coach. They don't have much experience in these kinds of matches but they have shown that they are capable of being competitive.“Even if it was not yet a great City, if the winners of the 2023 Champions League collapsed like a house of cards, we must recognize a merit in Paris: that of having largely dominated its opponent from the first at the last minute It was PSG's intentions more than City's collapse which determined the result of the match.
“Thanks to Dembélé, Paris has become uninhibited”
Video credit: Eurosport
Has Paris once again become a serious contender for victory in the Champions League in the space of 35 minutes? No, it's still much too early to say, but he has given himself a luxury: a respite of at least a week. Nasser Al-Khelaifi vowed that a defeat would not have deviated from his path and that he would have kept unwavering faith in his players and for “the best coach in the world“. No doubt, but this victory takes the project into another dimension with one more asset, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, and perhaps now an extra soul.