After conquering Europe, PSG now have sights set on Club World Cup glory
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Paris Saint-Germain captain Marquinhos and coach Luis Enrique during a ceremony to present the trophy a day after the team won the Champions League.
PHOTO: AFP
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LOS ANGELES – Freshly crowned kings of Europe, Paris Saint-Germain have arrived in the United States for the Club World Cup and are treating Fifa’s lucrative new competition not as a nuisance at the end of an exhausting season but as a serious objective.
“I think it is an incredible competition,” coach Luis Enrique said in the immediate aftermath of his team’s Champions League triumph in Munich on May 31.
“Our aim is to be competitive and try to win a fifth trophy of the season.”
The French giants could be forgiven for wanting some time to bask in the glory of their 5-0 victory over Inter Milan, which allowed them to finally win the Champions League for the first time in their history.
There had been numerous failures in Europe’s elite club competition, as well as billions of euros spent on transfer fees on stars like Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, prior to captain Marquinhos raising the trophy aloft.
“We have made history for the club, for the city and for the whole country,” France defender Lucas Hernandez told sports daily L’Equipe after the PSG squad paraded their Champions League trophy on the Champs-Elysees in Paris, attended a reception with President Emmanuel Macron and celebrated with almost 50,000 fans at their Parc des Princes stadium.
PSG have played 58 matches since last August and also swept all the available domestic trophies in France this season, as has become the norm in recent years.
But there is simply no time to stop and reflect.
Many of their players, including Champions League final hero Desire Doue, were on international duty before returning to their club and departing for California, where they will begin their Club World Cup adventure.
“The tournament itself is a really attractive prospect,” Enrique told Fifa.com.
“We have to strike the balance between managing the physical and mental fatigue we’re experiencing now at the end of a long season and harnessing the motivation that comes with being involved in the competition.”
PSG’s opening game will be against another European heavyweight as they take on Antoine Griezmann’s Atletico Madrid at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, just outside Los Angeles, on June 15.
They will then also face South American champions Botafogo, of Brazil, before moving to Washington to take on Major League Soccer side Seattle Sounders in their remaining Group B matches.
Expected to qualify for the knockout phase without too many issues, PSG could end up playing a total of seven matches if they make it all the way to the final in New Jersey on July 13 – just a month before their scheduled first game of next season in the Uefa Super Cup against Europa League champions Tottenham Hotspur.
The strain of such a long campaign is telling, with Ousmane Dembele – their top scorer this season with 33 goals – struggling with an injury picked up playing for France in the Nations League where they finished third.
They did not manage to add any new players to their squad during the brief transfer window that opened at the start of June.
But the rewards for success at the Club World Cup are enticing and should be enough to keep Enrique’s star-studded squad focused on their objective, with up to a stunning US$125 million (S$160 million) in prize money on offer for the winning team if they manage to go all the way. AFP
