Paris Saint-Germain's season 2018-19: double or quits

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The 2018 nearly arrives at its end but for Paris Saint-Germain, the season 2018-19 just starts as they met some difficulties: they were scrutinized by UEFA, accused of ethnic registration and at the same time, the new coach Thomas Tuchel just make the team back to unanimity.

To face Manchester United

For the last two seasons, PSG stopped before the quarter finals of the UEFA Champions League, being respectively defeated by Barcelona (4-0, 1-6) and Real Madrid (3-1, 2-1).

This time, the draw seems to give more advantage to PSG as they will confront Manchester United, which is the absolute richest club in the world but is in a net decline in terms of sport for the past five years and just sacked their charismatic head coach Jose Mourinho. The substitute coach Norwegian Ole Gunnar Solskjaer came to save the situation until the end of this season.

"Every time there is a change in coach's position, the players' motivation is lifted." The PSG's captain Thiago Silva warned on Tuesday evening. "They (Manchester United) will be motivated to player better and win the match. There are two months for us to prepare, but I think that they will give us a lot of difficulties."

Juan Mata of Manchester United in action during the International Champions Cup match between Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., July 29, 2015 /VCG Photo

Fault-free Tuchel

Thomas Tuchel repeated that the club, which was deeply controlled by Qatar Sports Investments since 2011, lacked of the dream of gaining the Champions League title. "In this club, people lack of experience of playing in the quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals for this competition," he said on Monday. "We should respect the clubs which have this experience, like Manchester United." The 45-year-old German, who thinks his team is "able to win", knows well that fighting the "Red Devils" is a big bet as up to now, he didn't make any fault and made the tolerable unanimity of the team in the locker room as well outside.

PSG's coach Tuchel Thomas during the Ligue 1 match between Strasbourg and PSG at the Stade de la Meinau stadium, Strasbourg, France, December 5, 2018 /VCG Photo

Tuchel especially succeeded in uniting Neymar, who was little convinced by PSG former Spanish coach Unai Emery. The Brazilian made self-questioning after a disaster World Cup – he was mocked by the whole world for his ridiculous simulations – to be law profile and was shining when his team really need him.

Financial fair play's shadow

"There are exactly few teams which have a player of this quality," Kylian Mbappe, the world champion before 20 years old and became a world star this season, satisfied with himself recently. And there's no other squad which has two arrows of this kind, situating in the world's most expensive attacking line (about 530 million euros expense for Neymar, Mbappe, Edinson Cavani and Angel Di Maria).

Paris Saint-Germain's French forward Kylian Mbappe celebrates at the end of the French League Cup round of 16 match between Orleans and PSG at La Source stadium in Orleans, France, December 18, 2018. /VCG Photo

This is just the back side of the season's start for Parisians, while marked by an incredible sequence of extra-sports affairs. The UEFA always investigate PSG, which is accused of "financial dope" as certain of their Qatari sponsors were judged overvaluing for the market price, as the financial fair play regulations prevent the clubs spending more money than what they earned themselves.

PSG appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, making the investigation stop for a while, but the serial will continue in 2019.

Other affairs

The club was also accused of "ethnic registration" in their formation center. An internal audit estimated that there's no found that "there was no proven case of discrimination", but the Paris Procuratorate launched an investigation and the club's premises were searched in mid-December.

The match of the UEFA Champions League against Red Star Belgrade in early October has also given rise to two investigations: one launched by the French justice on suspicion of match rigging by the Serbian club, which denies, and the other conducted by UEFA on clashes between supporters and police around the Parc des Princes for the home match, which will be judged on January 10.

Adrien Rabiot of Paris Saint-Germain sits on the bench during the UEFA Champions League match between Red Star Belgrade and PSG at Rajko Mitic Stadium in Belgrade, Serbia, December 11, 2018. /VCG Photo

Finally, for the unavoidable case of Adrien Rabiot, an endless soap opera that ignited in the mid-December, the player trained at the club decided to leave at the end of June while Paris is in search of financial resources.

A decision "firm and definitive," said his mother and agent Veronique Rabiot Wednesday on RTL. He was dismissed from the group until further notice, but the trade union of professional players thought that the PSG "makes the mistake – serious!" to react to his departure. Paris has an interest in sporting success to relegate the extra-sport affair to the background.

Source(s): AFP