Saturday night’s celebrations for Paris Saint-Germain’s record-breaking 11th Ligue 1 title – in the wake of their home defeat to Clermont – saw several players receive mixed reactions from the Parc des Princes crowd as they came out onto the pitch to lift the trophy.
Notably, the departing Lionel Messi was booed before, during and after the game by a large section of the fans, as had already been the case in the wake of his unauthorised trip to Saudi Arabia for which he was briefly suspended. Manager Christophe Galtier – whose future at the club is in doubt – also received a mostly negative reaction from the crowd, and even left the on-pitch celebrations early. The biggest cheers were reserved for some of the club’s stalwarts in Kylian Mbappé, Marco Verratti and Marquinhos, as well as the club legends (Raí, David Ginola, Blaise Matuidi…) whose messages of congratulations appear on the screen before the trophy was lifted.
Appearing before the press afterwards, goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma – who first of all sent out a message of support for his hospitalised colleague Sergio Rico – was asked about the booing:
“Honestly, we weren’t paying attention, we were just happy to celebrate. The fans have always been supporting us, even through defeats, that’s the most important thing. [On fans’ reactions] I understand them, we’ve lost too many games – four at home in Ligue 1 – that shouldn’t happen. We were lacking in mentality this season.”
The Italian international also praised his manager, albeit admitting he too was unsure about whether Galtier would stay:
“It’s not a question I can answer. I hope he does stay because he’s a great manager who still has a lot to give. There were a lot of difficulties this season.”
GFFN | Raphaël Jucobin
