Luis Campos, football advisor for Paris Saint-Germain, spoke to RMC Sport on Wednesday evening to discuss the proposed postponement of the Ligue 1 match against Lens, currently scheduled for Saturday, April 11, between the Champions League quarter-finals against Liverpool (April 8 and 14).
Campos stated, “This is the result of careful consideration of the advantages and disadvantages of this postponement, both for PSG and for French football.”
“PSG’s position is clear and is the result of careful consideration of the advantages and disadvantages of this postponement, both for PSG and for French football. We believe that France can be better represented in Europe thanks to this postponement, allowing us to gain points (in the UEFA coefficient ranking) and maintain our 5th place ranking.
Campos: “We have nothing against Lens, they’re good friends.”
We have nothing against Lens, they’re good friends. If it had been another opponent, we would have done the same thing. We simply want to represent France well. If we had played against Liverpool on Tuesday the 7th and Wednesday the 15th, it would have been simpler for us. But Liverpool cannot play on April 15th because it’s a tragic date (the Hillsborough disaster occurred on April 15, 1989, editor’s note), and we respected that.
The League has already told us no this season. When we played against Marseille, the match was on the same day as the Ballon d’Or. “The gold medal and all the PSG players, with their trademark team spirit, had asked to be present for Ousmane Dembélé’s celebration. The League refused to change the date, and we respected that decision,” a statement relayed by Le Parisien.
PSG’s position is very clear and defensible, as is Lens’s. This is something the Parisian club can well accept, as Lens seems rather “disadvantaged” by the proposed calendar change. At least in the short term. The Parisian club’s results in Europe are truly important for the image of the French league, its revenue, and its UEFA coefficient. Clubs are very happy to still have several places to play in Europe, especially after some have had disastrous runs in recent years.
This season, only Paris and Strasbourg remain, with Strasbourg also requesting the postponement of its match against Brest between the two Europa League Conference quarter-finals. This hasn’t caused nearly as much of a stir. Both positions have their merits; the important thing is that the debate takes place calmly and with mutual respect. This should remain solely between PSG, Lens, and the LFP.
