“alarm”, “giant problem”… Paris alerts the European press

PSG's defeat at Bayern Munich (1-0) on Tuesday and its very perilous situation in the Champions League standings put the French and Spanish sports press on alert.

There was a lot to say about the crazy Champions League evening experienced on Tuesday evening. There were a mess of goals (40 in nine matches), the very big defeats of Atlético de Madrid (0-6 in Prague), Atalanta (1-6 on the pitch of Young Boys of Berne), of Arsenal in Lisbon (1-5, against Sporting) and Leverkusen against Salzburg (5-0) and the incredible scuttling of Manchester City against Feyenoord Rotterdam (3-3 after leading 3-0). Less spectacular, the match between Bayern and PSG (1-0) is also one of those which attracted attention. Because after five matches, Paris is 26th and virtually eliminated from the competition.

“Giant problem for PSG”

The situation in Paris particularly puts the Spanish press on alert. “Alarm on two giants”, displays As on the front page of its site. The newspaper associates the Parisian fate with that of Manchester City by displaying the crestfallen expressions of the two Spanish technicians, Luis Enrique and Pep Guardiola, after the disillusionment of their respective teams. “Giant problem for PSG”, insists As. Marca repeats Luis Enrique’s declaration: “stay calm, the culprit is me”.

Paris' third defeat in the Champions League inevitably arouses a certain amount of disbelief in France as well. In the After on RMC, Daniel RIolo deplored Luis Enrique's choice to establish Matvey Safonov but also his technical projects which were too illegible. “Is Luis Enrique's idea to always want to play the same way or to want to create something new that will surprise the opponent? This guy destabilizes his players.” Emmanuel Petit deplores the absence of sensations transmitted by this team. “There is not a player who gives me emotions,” says the 1998 world champion.

“Paris is struggling but sinking,” headlines Le Parisien. “The weakest PSG team in the QSI version”, estimates former Parisian player Stéphane Dalmat in the newspaper which focuses on Matvey Safonov's error: “a costly hand mistake”.

For L'Equipe, this setback illustrates “the downgrading” of this Parisian team “close to emptiness” with this 26th place in the ranking which for the moment places Paris on the road to elimination. The sports daily focuses on the failed choices of Luis Enrique but also on the red card of Ousmane Dembélé: “a leader should not do that”.