The French club is still struggling from Ligue 1 but has had its worst week in years as enthusiasts oppose its megastars.
Paris Saint-Germain, which has long been accused of amassing beloved megastars with little team spirit or club spirit, is at a crisis point amid a feud with World Cup winner Lionel Messi and common protests from angry enthusiasts against club bosses and the Brazilian’s outdoor opener. Delantero. La Neymar’s house.
PSG stepped up security measures on Thursday after crowds of supporters gathered outside the club this week to protest what they called mismanagement of the Ligue 1 club after the third defeat in the last 4 home games, against Lorient on Sunday. After some enthusiasts said protest movements would continue each and every night, PSG stepped up security outside the clubhouse, educational center and homes of Neymar, Messi and Italian midfielder Marco Verratti.
An angry crowd of 400 cheers first gathered at the Qatari club, calling for Messi’s resignation and departure. Then, in ordinary scenes, another hundred people piled up in front of the house of Neymar, who is injured, chanting that he had to leave the club. club saying: “Neymar out.
One PSG fan told French television: “There were a lot of things that made other people think we couldn’t take it anymore. Sport does not exist. Another said: “We have players who don’t fight for our colours or don’t respect the club. “
The “Ultras” fan collective issued a lengthy criticism of the club’s command and president, asking: “Is there still a pilot at the controls of the plane?”They said the club deserves to get rid of “parasitic players” and added. : “Too many players are here only for the salary and without sporting ambition. “
PSG, one of Europe’s biggest spenders since Qatari homeowners took over in 2011, had its worst week in years but still has five games left in its bid to win Ligue 1. “Although we have one of our worst seasons in years, we will surely have to earn this eleventh name for dignity and pride,” the Ultras wrote.
PSG criticised the movements of enthusiasts who piled up outdoors at Neymar’s home and shouted at him to leave the club. “Paris Saint-Germain strongly condemns the unbearable and insulting movements of a small organization of Americans who took a stand on Wednesday,” a club said. “Whatever the differences of opinion, there is no justification for such moves. . . The club gives its full help to its players, staff and all those who are subjected to such disgraceful behaviour. “
The anger of fans comes this week amid another dispute with Messi, who was suspended for two weeks, banned from playing or studying and with his payment assured, after traveling two days without authorization to Saudi Arabia to make a promotional video about tourism.
Messi will leave PSG at the end of the season, along with his former club Barcelona and major league football club Inter Miami among those vying for him, along with an offer of more than £350 million a year from Saudi club Al-Hilal. after recently mocking him at home games.
Subscribe to Football Daily
Start your evenings with The Guardian’s view of global football
After the promotion of the newsletter
“What a waste!” announced the front page of the local newspaper, Le Parisien, over a photo of Messi. The newspaper lamented what it called PSG’s existing “fiasco. “Parisian sports journalist Dominique Sévérac writes: “PSG is football, but it’s always an upside-down circus, overheated, notched, meaningless.
The newspaper said that if Paris did not win the French name this year, it would win at least the equivalent of an Oscar for “Screenplay of the Year” with unexpected twists faster than Kylian Mbappe’s careers. He said PSG had come to symbolize, in the eyes of spectators, a club whose recruitment policy had just crammed stars who had “individualistic and mercantile approaches”.
But Le Parisien sports commentator Benoît Lallement wrote that although the club has been “stigmatized for giving everything to its star players and allowing them everything” and has been “mocked for being just a constellation of overpaid stars,” its “extraordinary” punishment of Messi can be considered “authoritarian” when a form of fair authority was needed.
French sports daily L’Equipe saw Messi’s ban as a “turning point” in the club’s dealings with its stars.