We thought it would be a total party at the Parc des Princes on Sunday evening. In a one-sided match, the capital club easily won against Olympique de Marseille in the midst of a crisis (4-0). While we might have thought it was an ideal evening, homophobic chants came down from the aisles in Boulogne. We could thus hear echoing for about fifteen minutes: “the people of Marseillais are b****s, sons of b****s, b*****s”.

While he was going through the traditional exercise of the press conference after the match in the auditorium of the Parc des Princes, the Parisian coach was asked to react to the comments of these supporters who had come to spoil the party. The Spaniard somewhat evaded the question: “I haven’t heard of good or bad things this evening.” Having been in Paris for a short time and still speaking French only approximately, it is also entirely logical that he did not understand the content of the remarks given for several minutes. The former La Roja coach did not pursue the analysis further.

This is not the first time that a Classic has been controversial for similar facts. In 2019, Sports Minister Roxana Maracineanu said she was “horrified” by homophobic chants which she described as “horrible”. She then asked the LFP for “sanctions”, while homophobia in the stadiums had been one of her main battles during her presence in the ministry. Four years have passed and nothing has changed.