Maybe this can all be traced back to Le Giuse? The Italian restaurant owned by Marco Verratti, located on the famous Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore near the Champs-Elysees, is where the Paris Saint-Germain season changed for the better.
On February 25, when the international team invited all his teammates to his location for lunch, things were not going well. PSG had lost their Champions League round-of-16 first leg 2-1 at Borussia Dortmund, where coach Thomas Tuchel’s tactics and his attitude towards his players were all wrong. Two days later, Edinson Cavani, Angel Di Maria and Mauro Icardi organized a joint birthday party and some of the recordings were posted on social media – including some of the players dancing with bare breasts – attracts many fans and people to the club. Before the defeat in Germany they had drawn against Amiens 4-4 and, after returning, they were lucky to defeat Bordeaux 4-3 at the Parc des Princes. Crisis sat in the air.
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The players came together in Veratti’s restaurant to show unity, but also to create unity. This group of players needed a change, something that would encourage them and lead them forward. The word from that meeting is that it made them a team, gave them a collective strength.
That same day, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar, sitting next to each other in their Christian Dior hoodies (orange for the Frenchman, yellow for the Brazilian), realized they needed to open up and get closer to their teammates because of something special about it. do was happen. The players believed they would reverse the bond against Dortmund. And so they did.
That 2-0 win behind closed doors, inspired by Neymar and celebrated by 4000 PSG ultras outside the Parc des Princes, sent them to Lisbon. But what exactly to do?
During the shutdown of European football due to the coronavirus pandemic, with players in the lockdown all over the world – some in France, some in Germany, some in Brazil – they made a pact: They would give everything to go as far as possible in the Champions League. They knew how good each of them was individually, but it was time to become a fair team, fight for each other and be focused, disciplined, professional. It was a property.
It was May and, with the Ligue 1 title already secured by default after the cancellation of the French season, the only goal on every PSG player’s mind was the Champions League. If they want to go all the way and lift the Holy Grail, they need unity and solidarity. You will not win the Champions League unless you are a fair team and you behave that way.
Tuchel saw it all from afar. The PSG manager was not at Le Giuse in February. He is not in the WhatsApp group of players. He did not have much communication with his men during lockdown. But he trusted the process. He knew something was happening. When the squad returned for training in June, Tuchel could see how exceptional the atmosphere had become among all the players, on and off the field. They were ready to go to war in Lisbon. Ready to go.
Before Tuesday’s semi-final, in the home of the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon, the PSG players reminded each other of their promise. Against RB Leipzig, they play more of a cohesive unit than ever before, claiming a convincing 3-0 win. They had great cohesion, a great fascination. If the late comeback to win 2-1 against Atalanta in the quarter-finals was all about spirit, then reaching the final on a collective performance of the highest level.
Postmatch, the same locker room was hot. In one corner, best friends Mbappe and Neymar sang: “We are, we are, we are in the final!” Elsewhere, Ander Herrera banged like one drum on one of the kit boxes and roared. For his first season at the club, the Spaniard has made an enormous impact. Not so much in the field, though his work ethic is contagious, but more importantly. He got this field together. He united the South American and European clans. He is the discreet leader of PSG.
Nasser Al Khelaifi, the president of the club, gave Herrera a big hug in the dressing room. Then, an ever-increasing hug for Neymar. The Brazilian is at the heart of the PSG project, more than anyone else in the squad, and to see how far he went to reach the Champions League final proved how much it meant to him.
When the players returned to their hotel, the Myriad, Paris wore no. 10 a great speaker with some Brazilian music blown out. Everyone was dancing and singing behind him. This is Neymar’s team. If Herrera is the leader, Neymar is the figure. When he won the Champions League with Barcelona in 2015, the triumvirate of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar ruled Europe, but it was still Messi’s team, Messi’s title and Messi’s Balli d’Or. This time it will be different: If the victory comes on Sunday, it will be Neymar’s trophy, even if there is no chance of a Ballon d’Or to go along.
Tuesday’s party continued in the hotel’s rooms and corridor, but Neymar, like Tuchel, warned his teammates almost as soon as the RB Leipzig match was over: There’s one more step to go. And he is right. PSG have not gone that far, and invested so many millions, to be runners-up. Reaching the finals cannot be an end in itself.
PSG have come a long way since February 25 and lunch at Le Giuse. They are almost there, where they promised each other that they would be on August 23: standing alone at the top of Europe.
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