PSG

Nine goals, some unforgettable moments … but nonexistent defenses and a still alarming spectacle for football? This is the position taken by Fred Hermel and Clarence Seedorf regarding the PSG-Bayern match on Tuesday night, which Daniel Riolo tried to address on Wednesday in “l’After Foot” on RMC. “The main debate is about the coaches’ philosophy,” says the editorialist.

Against almost unanimous approval of the quintessence of football delivered during PSG-Bayern Munich (5-4) on Tuesday in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final, some dissenting voices have emerged. Especially in England and France, where Clarence Seedorf and Fred Hermel revealed that they did not quite appreciate this total football. Judged on the offensive side.

Controversial stances, to which Daniel Riolo tried to respond on Wednesday evening, just a few minutes after a less eventful Atletico Madrid-Arsenal match (1-1).

“Even though I find Seedorf’s comments very interesting, I do not agree with him. Platini, to whom I sent a message, said to me: ‘For the general public, it was very spectacular and many people enjoyed it. But indeed: where are the goalkeepers, and where are the defenders?’ For me, I still believe that I saw a very great match.”

“The main debate is about the coaches’ philosophy,” Riolo continues. “For years, I was told ‘balance – imbalance.’ I like the notion of imbalance that has been brought by some coaches. Seeing full-backs who no longer know how to defend, who only know how to counterattack, is an evolution of football. You have the right to consider that winning 4-3 is better than winning 1-0 because you have set up a defensive game. It’s just a football choice,” says the editorialist.

“I would be bothered if we only had matches like that, fireworks, where you have nothing but intensity, no control, no mastery or reflection. Here, it was a one-shot because, as Luis Enrique and (Vincent) Kompany said: they are in football reflections, in desires to play where they are ready – because they take risks and goals.”

Hermel and the “symbol of the TikTok era”

And Daniel Riolo concludes in this decisive debate: “If Seedorf is right, and Arsenal reaches the final, and by playing as they play they beat Bayern or PSG, then I will applaud. Because you will have done something to me that, one, I do not believe in; and two, it is not my football. I will say bravo. As I can have a particular fondness for Atletico and what they have been doing for years – even if it is the opposite of what I like in football.”

In the Estelle Midi show on RMC, Frédéric Hermel offered an analysis of PSG-Bayern far from the superlatives used by the vast majority of the football world. Unlike the international media in ecstasy, the journalist criticized this offensive festival, calling it the “symbol of the TikTok era.”

Clarence Seedorf, on the other hand, explained why he now sees Arsenal, if the Gunners pass the Atletico Madrid challenge, winning the Champions League thanks to their ability not to concede many goals. Whether facing the Parisian or Bavarian armada.