Evenings of trophies, champions and spoiled children

It was even at call risk Kylian Mbappé, he wasn’t feeling a bit well. However, when he came on as a 57th-minute substitute at PSG against Bayern Munich (already 1-0 to Bayern at the time), the game experienced a Copernican revolution. The impeccable defense of the Bavarians offered not the slightest resistance to the chivalrous and disruptive outbursts of the French phenomenon. DeLigt, Pavard (later eliminated in the final), upamecan: excellent for over sixty minutes of play, almost small for the remaining thirty. Not her fault, mind you.

The truth is that Mbappé showed the whole world what that means be a winner And know how to stay – make the difference – in a trophy that takes its original name from the champions.

It was Mbappé who led the Parisians on the magical night before that at the Bernabèu last year The Magical night became epochal: yes, but for i galacticagainst whose radical aesthetics and tradition not even a phenomenon like Mbappé could do much. Cup and championship evenings, we said. But also from spoiled children. And no, gentlemen, Mbappé does not belong to that intolerable category, those billionaires and apathetic Playstation footballers who take to the field like eleven monads, forgetting that football is a team sport where group cohesion and the temperament of a dressing room always prevail make difference (especially in games of this type). On the other hand, of course, there was FC Bayern Munich, who, despite all the problems at the start of the season, will remain one crew in the strong sense of the word [1].

«The loss of PSG? I was convinced of the performance of both teams. on the one hand a true groupliterally (and I’m talking about Bayern), which has a very high average number of players against a team that I define blobtrotter and spoil yourself, with some decent players who have never been a team though. I was sure Bayern would dominate PSG in midfield.”

Paolo Di Canio, Sky Sports, 02/14/2023

It is clear that the return should all be played, but in the meantime Galtier – a coach of very strong personalityas he defined it Hours before the game, Sergio Ramos – tasked with bringing group identity, strong cohesion and teamwork to a mass of super-managed Superstars – failed miserably at his task. And it’s not just in the Champions League, as he’s returning from a Ligue 1 defeat at the Velodrome to Tudors Marseille – he’s performing exceptionally.

The lack of camaraderie, the almost unbearable softness of certain movements and postures on the pitch, has characterized PSG for years, the eternal incomplete. But also the Tottenhamwhich has been shown despite the apology of the many absenteeism not being hungry enough To do great things in the Champions League. Unlike Milan, who in one of the darkest moments of their season had the attitude and guts of a great team from the start and deserved the final 1-0 – which frankly almost left the bitter taste of the chances they created. On the one hand a united group, that of Stefano Pioli, on the other a divided group, that of Antonio Conte, who continues to show atavistic difficulties in the European arena.

The Lecce coach underscored his own overtime against Sky The of appearance, the lack of strong players, a problem that Tottenham seem to carry with them as the essence of eternity. “I liked our youngsters, it wasn’t easy to play in such an atmosphere in front of 80,000 ‘poisoned’ people.” All true, and by the way, congratulations to the South for singing their hearts out for over 90 minutes. Then Conte added: «We started one Proceedings and let’s hope it doesn’t take long for us to improve and avoid those ups and downs.” If Conte – and Mourinho before him – didn’t make it, it’s unlikely anyone will in the future. You can’t train the mentality, but you can train the search for a mentalitythe insistence on the concept of group, brotherhood, mutual aid, all of this can (and must) be trained. Not to find yourself with a bunch of regrets for a handful of dollars at the end of the season.

[1] From 〈ekìp〉 sf, fr. [der. del v. équiper, che anticam. significava «imbarcarsi», dal germ. skip «barca»]