Yesterday, I had the opportunity to go watch French giants, Paris Saint-Germain, practice at the training facility of the Montreal Impact. This is the recall of the major events from last night’s session.
Upon my arrival at the training
ground, I stood outside for about five minutes. It then dawned on me that I was able to go inside and wait for the practice to begin. Reality set in as soon as I walked through the doors of the training ground and realized this was really about to happen. After discussing with an official of the Montreal Impact for a few minutes, I then went inside with other journalists waiting for the players. While talking to the other journalists, a sudden roar was heard from a distance. The players had arrived and just like that one Paris Saint-Germain player after the next entered the training facility. As I observed from a distance, I realized a pattern emerged. Most of the guys to come out of the facility played their football in Italy at some point in their careers. From Edinson Cavani to Marco Verratti to Ezequiel Lavezzi, there was a very real Italian influence on this side.
After the players went into the dressing rooms, everyone continued to talk and joke among themselves until the players reemerged for training. That said, someone had not yet arrived. Of course, I’m talking about Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The big Swede was the last person to exit the team bus and entered the building to some of the loudest chants I’ve ever heard. What happened next stuck with me even hours after the practice. Upon Ibra’s appearance, everyone stopped what they were doing immediately and looked his way. It was as if the 33-year-old commanded the respect and gaze from just about everyone in the facility. Ibrahimovic then gave everyone his seal of approval by smiling and waving to everyone. When the Paris Saint-Germain striker went downstairs, everyone returned to what they were doing. Ibrahimovic had spoken without even saying a word. It was truly amazing.
With fifteen minutes to go before the practice, players started slowly making their way to the field. Before anyone came out, Laurent Blanc, Paris Saint-Germain’s manager, came out and personally greeted everyone, including myself. Then Edinson Cavani recognized an old friend of his and came out running. Luckily, I was standing next to this friend of his at the time. When Cavani was finished greeting his friend he looked my way and extended his hand. I welcomed him to Montreal and told him it was a pleasure to meet one of the best strikers in the world. He thanked me and continued on his way to the field. After he left, it hadn’t quite hit me what just happened. I was able to talk to a player that I have only been able to admire from my television until now. Once Cavani left, more and more players began making their way to the training ground. Interestingly enough, the South Americans came out together as did the French players and so on and so forth. What I found the most interesting was that a majority of the former Serie A players came out together, laughing and joking…in Italian.
The practice began as expected and with a light warm up around the field. Of course, there in the front of the group was Ibrahimovic leading them. After the warm-up, they were divided into two groups and played a simple game of keep-away among themselves. In one group, there were Paris Saint-Germain’s youngsters with Cavani and David Luiz. In the other, there was the Serie A all-stars. Oh, sorry, I meant to say that in the other group was Ibrahimovic, Verratti, Thiago Silva, Lavezzi and Pastore. Following an unusual mistake from Pastore, a few players from the Serie A all stars would let out a “dai”, which is Italian for c’mon. While the first group of players were largely French or from the youth system, the second one had a massive Italian influence on it.
In the far right side of the field the goalkeepers were training with a coach. Former Palermo man, Salvatore Sirigu was one of the four keepers there. Despite performing extremely well throughout the training session, I did not find his body language to be particularly inspiring. The 28-year-old appeared to be the odd man out. The fact that the Parisian outfit just went out and signed Kevin Trapp from 1. FC Kaiserslautern perhaps plays a role in this. He is no longer the undisputed number one for the Ligue Un giants and it has begun showing. While the keepers kept training, Laurent Blanc changed drills and set up four small nets around the field. The Serie A all stars were about to take on the “other guys” in a possession-oriented drill. They unsurprisingly emerged victorious over their counterparts in what appeared to be a lesson in possession based football. When you have players like Verratti, Ibra, Lavezzi and Pastore on your side, this should come as no surprise. Pastore, however, got scolded following the drill for something he became so famous from while at Palermo: dribbling the ball. The Paris Saint-Germain staff believed he was holding the ball for too long and let him know immediately.
When the practice came to an end, some players came to the mixed zone to talk to the media. Cavani, Ibrahimovic, Sirigu and Verratti told us that they would speak tomorrow while only a few decided to stay behind. Among those who stayed were Ibra’s best friend and former Inter defender Maxwell, and former Roma superstar Marquinhos. In their interviews they said what one would typically expect from a footballer. We’re focused on the task ahead, we have a great group of guys, we came here to win and all that good stuff. Really, there was nothing interesting that was said. No transfer stories, no backstory on one of their teammates, nothing. To be fair, you can’t blame them nor should you expect them to divulge anything of interest to the media. It would be detrimental to their team. Following their (not-so) interesting interviews, the two Serie A all stars joined their teammates and went to cool down inside.
Just like that, the best two hours of my short, unofficial, journalism career came to an end. On Saturday, Paris Saint-Germain will take on longtime rivals, Olympique Lyonnais in the Trophée des Champions. While the result is certainly not guaranteed to be in their favor, one thing is for sure. No matter what happens on Saturday and in the future, for that matter for PSG, has a made-in-Italy stamp at the bottom of it. You just have to look close enough to see it.
The post IFD Exclusive: Paris Saint-Germain Arrive In Montreal With An Italian Flavor appeared first on Italian Football Daily.
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