Paris Saint-Germain are reportedly preparing to applaud Manchester City onto the pitch ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League clash, after their English counterparts made the Qatari-backed French champions look positively angelic by comparison.
There was a time when PSG were football’s ultimate villains.
Backed by Qatar Sports Investments, the Parisians spent years hoovering up superstars, smashing transfer records and assembling a collection of attacking talent that would make most accountants break out in a cold sweat.
They were accused of sportswashing, ruining competitive balance, bending financial fair play rules and treating the transfer market like an all-you-can-eat buffet.
But times change.
And apparently, so does your reputation when Manchester City are around.
Following City’s guilty verdict on serious breaches of Premier League financial rules, PSG have reportedly decided that Wednesday night’s Champions League meeting presents the perfect opportunity to pay tribute to their English counterparts.
A guard of honour is being considered, with the French champions keen to recognise City’s extraordinary contribution to making everyone else in football look comparatively sensible.
It’s not every day that a club once accused of financially distorting European football gets to feel like the responsible adult in the room.
PSG’s €222 million signing of Neymar in 2017 was once the sort of transfer that had football supporters questioning whether the sport had completely lost its mind.
Now, they could be lining up to applaud City onto the pitch.
Football, as ever, has a remarkable sense of humour.
The irony is that both clubs represent the enormous financial power that has reshaped modern European football. Both have benefited from wealthy ownership, assembled elite squads and spent years competing at the very highest level.
But with an independent Premier League commission finding City guilty of serious financial rule breaches, PSG have been handed an unexpected opportunity to reconsider their place in football’s villain rankings.
City have appealed the verdict and maintain their innocence, but the findings have hardly helped their reputation.
The news has even attracted the attention of FIFA Peace Prize winner, US President Donald Trump, who was quick to offer his assessment of the situation.
“Manchester City are bigger cheats than the Democrats. Nobody has ever cheated like them. They say they have 115 charges, or 114, whatever it is. I know a lot about winning, and let me tell you, these guys know a lot about cheating. A lot of people are saying it. Incredible cheating. The best cheating, probably.”
FIFA president Gianni Infantino was also reportedly delighted with the developments, claiming City’s financial controversies had done wonders for his own reputation.
“People used to criticise me all the time. The World Cup in Qatar, the money, the politics. They said Gianni, you are the problem. But now? Look at Manchester City. Suddenly, Gianni looks like an angel. A beautiful angel. Almost like a saint.
“Honestly, I could walk into a room full of football supporters tomorrow and they would thank me. Thank me! Can you believe it? I might even be the most popular man in football. Everything is relative, my friends.”
The FIFA president is reportedly considering awarding Manchester City FIFA’s inaugural Financial Fair Play award, in recognition of their outstanding contribution to making everyone else in football look squeaky clean by comparison.
PSG manager Luis Enrique was equally generous in his praise.
“We always thought we were the bad guys. We spent all that money, signed Neymar for €222 million, and people said we were ruining football. Now we look at Manchester City and we feel like a small family club from the countryside.”
Wednesday’s meeting promises to be a fascinating contest between two of European football’s financial heavyweights.
And if PSG do line up to applaud City onto the pitch, it will be a remarkable moment: the day football’s former villains finally found someone who made them look like the good guys.
*This article is a work of satire. Quotes attributed to public figures are fictional and intended for humorous purposes.*
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