What a year it’s been for Paris Saint-Germain. Zlatan Ibrahimovic departed after four incredible seasons where he became the club’s all-time leading scorer, Unai Emery was named manager after Laurent Blanc’s dismissal and the team won an unprecedented second consecutive domestic quadruple. As we prepare to close out 2016, PSG Talk contributors share their favorite moments from the past year.
Guillaume
For me, more than Ibrahimovic leaving the pitch for his last game and not being replaced, more than Emery’s first game, my most memorable moment is the return of the (some) ultras at Parc des Princes and how well it seems to have been handled by the club so far.
I’d go with the loss to Manchester City in the UEFA Champions League. The tie was woefully underwhelming and the performance was the first thing that popped into my head when Blanc was sacked.
Can the “death” of Javier Pastore be my moment? Every time he got injured again I got real sad. He’s currently in Argentina using a club’s training facilities to try to get fit.
Jack
When Emery was hired there was this kind of new hope around the PSG project and many thought the complacency of the Blanc-era would be gone. Unfortunately that has not been the case, YET.
I’m going to go with Serge Aurier’s Periscope rant at the beginning of 2016 for my most memorable moment. The story was front page news and landed the Ivorian a month-long suspension from the team. Many predicted the club would implode following Aurier’s inflammatory comments but they rallied to reach the quarterfinals of the Champions League and win every domestic trophy available. Aurier’s comments will follow him throughout his career but at least now he’s letting his play do all the talking.
Subscribe to the PSG Talking podcast (iTunes) (Google Play) and follow us on Twitter @PSGTalk.