Serial business, Mbappé’s spleen, sluggish game … A PSG in crisis before its match against OM

A Mbappé who has desires elsewhere just four months after his extension, a worrying series of draws, revelations from Mediapart about a supposed “digital army” to target media and players deemed hostile to management… PSG, yet still undefeated in all competitions, is having a complicated week, a few days before the “classic” against OM on Sunday. The life of a PSG supporter has never been a long calm river. It looks more like a soap-opera with more incredible twists than the other. The draw against Reims in Ligue 1, then against Benfica in the Champions League are not the most surprising chapters. Four days before the classic PSG-OM Sunday October 16 in Ligue 1, Paris must manage the spleen of its superstar Kylian Mbappé, the drop in diet of its players as well as the revelations of the French press: the investigative newspaper Mediapart revealed Wednesday October 12 that the PSG would have used a communication agency, between 2018 and 2020, to create false Twitter accounts in order to carry out hostile campaigns against targets of the capital club. Penaltygate, tweets liked by Neymar, TGV, sand yachting, Campos/Henrique, developments in the Diallo-Hamraoui affair, the pivot gang, Mbappé who wants to get out and now the army of trolls. All this has been since August 13. Of them. Month.— Alexandre Aflalo (@aflaalex) October 12, 2022 Unhappy Mbappé The art of shooting yourself in the foot. PSG are first in their group in the Champions League and in their championship, but still manage to spread an atmosphere of crisis. Beyond the three consecutive draws conceded – twice 1-1 against Benfica in the Champions League, interspersed with a 0-0 on Saturday at Reims in Ligue 1 – the new bursts around Kylian Mbappé animated the front and the post-match against the Portuguese club, Tuesday at the Parc des Princes. The rumor of a possible departure of the star, extended with great fanfare until 2025 last May, has been firmly denied by the sports adviser, Luis Campos. But this rumor has, from concordant sources, been launched by Mbappé’s entourage himself, to put some pressure on PSG, because the number 7 feels betrayed by his management, who would not have kept his promises. , in particular that of recruiting a great center forward, an ideal partner according to him. “It is you who take things out of context”, replied to journalists Achraf Hakimi, an ally of Mbappé in the locker room. “He is focused on the club, he is happy here. I see him happy”, assured the Moroccan. The Parisian public did not whistle the prodigy on Tuesday evening, the player was not sanctioned by his club and, during the match, Mbappé assumed his status, scoring the Parisian goal from the penalty spot to become the top scorer in C1 in club history (31 goals), while finishing man of the match for UEFA. A less attractive Paris Mbappé’s moods are not the only problem. With only two goals scored in three draws, PSG have slowed down significantly. “We are less flashy, less brilliant, less dangerous”, admits Christophe Galtier, who “does not think it is a less physical blow”. “At the start of the season, we were going much faster, with much more game in the verticality once we had created the shifts”, adds the coach. Neymar, dazzling since August, is marking time a little. Against Benfica, he got lost in successful dribbling, but lateral, or a stroke of the splendid sombrero, but in the central circle. In addition, business also awaits the Brazilian, his trial for “corruption” and “fraud” s opens Monday in Barcelona, ​​one month before the World Cup in Qatar (November 20-December 18). The story has been going on since 2016, the Brazilian agency which partially managed the player’s image rights, DIS, considering itself wronged in the transfer of “Ney” from Santos to Barcelona three years earlier. Neymar … the famous “MNM” is also affected by the absence of Lionel Messi (injured in the calf), who should “very probably” return to face Marseille, reassures Galtier. An “army of trolls” in the service of PSG? During a long day on Wednesday, clouds continued to build up in the sky over PSG. Mediapart revealed that the club had commissioned a communication agency, between 2018 and 2020, to create fake Twitter accounts to carry out hostile campaigns against targets of the capital club. According to the online newspaper which publishes a report from the company Digital Big Brother (DBB), registered in Barcelona and controlled by the Franco-Tunisian businessman Lotfi Bel Hadj, this agency has deployed “an army of trolls” in the service of the Qatar-owned club to discredit personalities, journalists and even team players. 05:46 The Mediapart news site accuses PSG of having resorted to an “army” of trolls to denigrate its opponents © france24 Among the preferred targets were, according to the report, “media deemed hostile to PSG such as Mediapart and L ‘Team, the supporter slapped by Neymar (after the defeat of PSG in the final of the Coupe de France 2019, editor’s note), the young girl who accused the Brazilian star of rape, but also club personalities such as player Adrien Rabiot and former sporting director Antero Henrique”. Mediapart indicates that the Parisian star Kylian Mbappé has also been “scratched”. club of the capital “was supervised by the communication department of PSG, directed at the time by Jean-Martial Ribes”. The latter left the club last May for the communication department of a subsidiary of the luxury giant LVMH. Contacted by AFP, PSG “firmly denied Mediapart’s allegations”. Will Mbappé respond on the pitch? A little thinning in this dark week, the investigation into suspicions of ethnic registration at the training center has been dismissed. It is in this gloomy and tense atmosphere that PSG is preparing a major events of the year, the reception of OM on Sunday (8:45 p.m.), eagerly awaited by its supporters who have been singing anti-Marseillais songs at the end of each match for the past 15 days. An Olympique de Marseille which should on the contrary arrive in confidence, after its victory against Sporting Portugal. The Mbappé affair will inevitably leave its mark. Before his first classic, in 2017, the prodigy had made a small error of appreciation (he admitted it later) by evoking a match “like the others”. He has largely recovered since, scoring 7 goals in PSG-OM, including the last, on April 17, 2022 at the Parc des Princes (2-1). So far, each time Mbappé has been talked about outside the field, from his unfortunate exit to the UNFP trophies where he had claimed more responsibility to his disagreements with the French Football Federation (FFF) on the image rights of internationals, he responded on the field, by scoring goals. A victory against his best enemy, with a great match for Mbappé, would revive PSG and perhaps make people forget the week of storms. With AFP