While an entire club, from managers to fans, dreams of reliving the magical night of 11 March 2020, and the spontaneous jubilation* following the victory in the second leg of the Champions League round of 16 against Borussia Dortmund (2-0; 1- 2 in the first leg), the Parisian fans tried to fire up the pre-match this Tuesday. If the CUP has given up on organizing a march However, to accompany the arrival of the players’ bus in view of the C1 semi-final second leg against BVB (0-1 defeat in Germany in the first leg), some fans had planned a gathering in rue de Nungesser et Coli.
The police pushed this group of more than 200 people a little further away, who stopped in front of Villa Auteuil to sing songs with loud chants, smoke bombs and fireworks from 5.40pm. A very early morning meeting, which is truly unusual in Paris, and which therefore testifies to the particular importance of the evening meeting. This early arrival even scared a group of four very surprised grandmothers leaving their bridge club. Twenty-year-old Driss was already hoarse at 6pm as he said this “Paris will definitely do it”. “Stop brother, you’ll look at us”his colleague interrupted right next to him, still assuring that a “Something crazy was going to happen tonight (Tuesday) ». The trust is shared by all the fans met, even if the memory of the cold shower of the first leg has returned to many lips.
No special entertainment from the fans to welcome the players
More and more fans swelled in the ranks of this improvised procession, with a strong presence also of members of the BRI to keep watch over a group which, before 7pm, had well exceeded a thousand units. As fireworks were fired at the foot of the Auteuil bend, the bulk of the troops slowly drifted towards it, in a huge cloud of blue and red smoke, proclaiming their love for Paris. On the other side of the stadium, the yellow procession of Dortmund fans was heading towards the fence from the Porte de Saint-Cloud under good guard, without clashes.
While the German players’ bus arrived before 1h40 before kick-off amidst the whistles, the PSG bus arrived in front of the Park very late, eighty minutes before kick-off. As expected, there was no special entertainment from the fans to welcome the players. The party, if it takes place, will take place inside the Park at the final whistle.