Just 48 hours after a 2-1 loss to Borussia Dortmund in the UEFA Champions League, several Paris Saint-Germain players attended the lavish birthday party of Edinson Cavani, Angel Di Maria, and Mauro Icardi.
The images from the party showed Kylian Mbappé masquerading as a DJ, players taking turns on an arcade boxing game, and Neymar Jr., Cavani, and Keylor Navas dancing with their shirts off. Needless to say, it wasn’t a great look considering the timing.
I didn’t have too much of an issue with the party but I would have preferred it the organizers confiscated cellphones from guests to limit the number of photos and videos posted on social media.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case and millions around the world have now seen PSG players partying after a loss and the assumption is that the players don’t really care about winning and the loss didn’t affect them that much.
Paris Saint-Germain will try to shake off the negativity on Sunday as they welcome Girondins de Bordeaux to the Parc des Princes. At the pre-match press conference, Marquinhos, who was at the party, was asked if he thought the event was a mistake.
“I think it was maybe a mistake to post those pictures. We are all aware of that. But it was a birthday party. It was already scheduled before the game. It wasn’t related to the results, and what we want to say to our fans, it wasn’t a lack of respect.”
“There are also times when you want to forget about football and spend time together, have fun. We cannot think only about tactics, formation, games. We are always focused 24-7, but sometimes, we need also to have fun.”
“Two days later, yes, it was just a time when we wanted to spend time all together and we wanted to see the positive side. It was just a time to forget about football and enjoy the moment.”
I doubt we’ll see any more videos of players partying between now and March 11 when Dortmund comes to the Parc des Princes with a place in the quarter-finals of the Champions League on the line.
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