Pursuit of happiness: the problem with supporting one of football’s super clubs

The hymns were still playing and the sermons were still being read, but the cathedral was in flames. The Parc des Princes, this monument to glory and desire, the place where you go to see your fantasies made flesh, was in revolt. They were watching Paris Saint-Germain, their team, rip Bordeaux to shreds with perhaps the most preposterously dazzling front three in the history of football. And they were furious about it.

Lionel Messi was booed, by many of the same fans who lined the streets to celebrate his arrival in August. Neymar was booed when he scored and cheered when he missed. It was profane and it was shocking and maybe that was the point. “We understand their disappointment, we understand their hatred,” the PSG centre-half Presnel Kimpembe said. “Now we must move forward in order to win Ligue 1.”

The immediate assumption was that this was a sort of acid reflux, an intestinal reaction to the Champions League defeat against Real Madrid in midweek. On social media, fans of other clubs brandished their tiny violins. Fifteen points clear in Ligue 1, close to an eighth title in 10 seasons and with a front-row seat to the greatest show in world football. Maybe, you know, grow up?

But Paris has been at war with itself for a while now, for reasons that go far deeper than one second-half capitulation. Last month, the fan group Collectif Ultras Paris organised a picket of the fixture against Rennes, denouncing the Qatari owners, the sporting director, Leonardo, and even the head of communications. There were demands to “respect the women’s team.” One banner even referenced the revolutionary reign of terror: “Too many useless heads! Robespierre, where are you?” And people say this club has no sense of history.

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