Four months after French football ground to a standstill as the coronavirus pandemic worsened, Paris Saint-Germain head into Friday’s national cup final against Saint-Etienne looking to land the first of a potential three titles in a five-match burst.
Declared Ligue 1
champions for the seventh time in eight years after the season was ended
prematurely, PSG return
to competitive action 135 days later with the French Cup, French League Cup and
Champions League in their sights.
Unlike their last
fixture on March 11, a 2-0 win over Borussia Dortmund behind closed doors that
sealed a place in the Champions League quarter-finals, a limited number of fans
will be allowed to attend the French Cup final.
The fixture at the
Stade de France marks the return of French football, lagging well behind the
rest of Europe’s top leagues which eventually restarted despite the health
crisis.
PSG have shown
little rustiness in dispatching a trio of friendly opponents—Le Havre,
Waasland-Beveren and Scottish champions Celtic—with 20 goals scored and none
conceded.
For Saint-Etienne,
the COVID-19 interruption allowed them to turn the page on a dismal league
campaign in which they finished 17th—a far cry from their
fourth-placed effort in 2018-19.
“The goal was to
avoid injuries and come into the final with fresh legs and clear minds. We’re
ready to play,” said PSG coach
Thomas Tuchel.
“It’s a very
important match after a long break. No team has ever done that. We want to win.”
‘Historic and strange’
PSG captain Thiago
Silva hopes to sign off on an eight-year spell at the club with a raft of
trophies, having signed a short-term extension through August.
“The truth is I
didn’t want to leave but the decision has been taken and I respect it,” said
Silva, who has helped PSG to
four of their record 12 French Cup triumphs.
“It’s a different
time to any other, it’s historic and strange,” he added. “To stop for four
months like that, it’s not easy to then get back to the highest level.”
Friday’s showdown
is a repeat of the 1982 final, won by PSG on
penalties following a 2-2 draw in which Michel Platini scored twice for
Saint-Etienne.
It was PSG’s first major title and also
the last time Saint-Etienne reached the final.
“We’re not
favourites. Our goal is to enjoy ourselves, play our trump card and be in the
match. I hope we let loose, we have nothing to lose,” said Saint-Etienne boss
Claude Puel.
French President
Emmanuel Macron will be in attendance as is tradition, but fewer than 5,000
spectators will be permitted at the 80,000-seater venue as part of stringent
health regulations.
Saint-Etienne
supporters have said they will boycott the match after receiving an allocation
of just 900 tickets.
However, the
occasion will provide Tuchel the chance to atone for last year’s final defeat
by Rennes in a penalty shootout, as PSG failed
to win at least one of the two domestic cups for the first time since 2013.
PSG return to the
Stade de France on July 31 to face Lyon in the French League Cup final.
They will then head
to Lisbon to play Atalanta on August 12 in the quarter-finals of a Champions
League ‘Final Eight’.
The tournament will
be played in a straight knockout format due to the difficulties caused by the
coronavirus, with PSG dreaming
of a remarkable quadruple to celebrate the club’s 50-year anniversary.
