Paris Saint-Germain sporting advisor Luis Campos has given a crass and insulting explanation as to the scheduling of their Champions League quarter-final against Liverpool next month.
The two teams will lock horns on 8 and 14 April, with PSG seeking to get their top-of-the-table Ligue 1 clash against Lens on the 11th moved in order to maximise preparation time for the second leg at Anfield.
Their domestic title rivals have expressed their strong opposition to postponing the match at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis, maintaining that doing so would be disrespectful to them and to the French top flight as a whole.
Speaking on RMC Sport, Campos claimed that PSG wanted to play their Champions League tie on the 7th and 15th but recognised that the latter date is the anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster, although his attempts to use that as justification for requesting a domestic postponement were extremely ill-conceived.
He said: “At the beginning, we would have liked to play the Champions League on Tuesday [7th], then on Wednesday [15th]. But as Liverpool cannot play on April 15, we respected Liverpool’s history because it is a tragic date for the club.
“PSG’s position is very clear and the fruit of a great reflection by all of us for the advantages and disadvantages that it brings, not only to PSG but to French football.
“Our idea has always been to defend not only PSG but also French football in the current context of the fifth-place finish…Ligue 1 is in a position to lose its fifth place, and that will pose problems not only for PSG but for all French teams.”
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In citing Hillsborough as an attempted justification for seeking a sporting advantage by lobbying for their Ligue 1 game against Lens to be postponed, Campos has crossed a distasteful line.
Even if his intentions were to show ‘respect’ for Liverpool by not playing on the 15th, using the tragedy as part of an explanation for rescheduling a league game for their own benefit is an insult to the families and friends of the 97 supporters who died as a result of the horrific events in Sheffield in 1989.
The attempted reasoning from the PSG sporting advisor reflects terribly on him, and the club as a whole are coming across badly from their pursuit of a domestic postponement.
Despite what Campos might say about wanting what’s best for French football as a whole, it’s evident that the Parisian club only want the Lens game put back for self-serving reasons by gaining an additional three days rest before their visit to Anfield.
The anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster is a day of remembrance and reflection, and it should never be used flippantly as a justification for seeking a sporting advantage.
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