the timing of the tour is cringeworthy

This is a bad tour. Beaten in Rennes this weekend (1-0) after a poor performance, PSG are flying this week to Saudi Arabia and Qatar where a friendly match awaits them against a formation made up of the best players from Al Hilal and Al Nassr, Cristiano Ronaldo’s brand new club. The Portuguese will also be the captain of his team and could face Leo Messi for the last time in his prestigious career. This is even one of the arguments put forward by observers to discuss this meeting. Except that timing issue, we have seen better for Paris. In 14 days, the leader of Ligue 1 has suffered its first two defeats of the season and sees its competitors getting closer, in particular RC Lens and OM. Marquinhos even had remarks noticed at Roazhon Park on Sunday evening, calling on his teammates to react as quickly as possible.

“It’s been two (defeats) in the new year, we must immediately resume more solidity, intensity in the duelswarned the Brazilian captain on Prime Video. These are matches that are played on details, the details they made us pay. We had chances, we failed to score. If we manage to regain this solidity, it will be better afterwards. We are aware, we have to find that as soon as possible. It’s starting to add up to a lot of points that we drop, these are very important points at the end of the season, especially away from home like that, we know that these are difficult matches. Behind, the teams are not giving up, Lens, Marseille… we must not start losing too many points, otherwise we will be in difficulty. The ideal would have been to be able to work in serenity at the Camp des Loges.

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The new poor performance of PSG players

The financial has taken precedence over the sportsman

Especially since weeks without a match are rare at PSG, especially in this post-World Cup period when you have to “make up for lost time” in November-December. The next official match should take place next Monday in the round of 16 of the Coupe de France against the fans of Pays de Cassel. This should be a formality for the stars of the capital before the return to routine with the reception of Reims in the league on January 29. This slot could have been the perfect time to allow everyone to find a balanced level of physical fitness, to rework certain tactical aspects to attack the second part of the season. Instead, Christophe Galtier’s troops will experience 14 hours of flight for less than three days of presence, in addition to playing a match.

The temperature difference between the Riyadh-Doha axis and Paris also risks affecting organisms, increasing the risk of injury. A disaster scenario, of course, but which cannot be ruled out, and very far from ideal three weeks before the round of 16 first leg of the Champions League against Bayern Munich (February 14 at the Parc des Princes). We have to believe that economic interest will have taken over at PSG. The club will pocket a check for 10 M€ for its presence in Saudi Arabia reported The Team. In this lean period, it is difficult to say no even by the Ile-de-France club, faced with some problems with UEFA’s financial fair play and already sanctioned for its heavy deficits in previous seasons (PSG received a fine of 65 M€, including 55 M€ suspended). There are times when financial interest dominates the sports sector. Almost a constant since the start of the QSI era.