WELCOME HOME: Paris Saint-Germain players celebrate with their French League trophy atop a double decker during a victory parade in Paris on Monday. (AFP)
AFP/Paris
Newly-crowned champions Paris Saint Germain have warned Real Madrid to respect the contract of coach Carlo Ancelotti, seen as a potential target for the Spanish giants, as violence scarred the French club’s trophy parade.
The ‘hands off ‘Ancelotti message came ahead of what was supposed to be a festive PSG party in the capital but the celebrations turned sour when fans clashed with police. Up to 15,000 PSG fans had thronged the esplanade at Trocadero by the Eiffel Tower in the capital to mark the club’s first league title in 19 years — two years after a buyout by Qatar Sports Investments.
But the occasion descended into violence with the throwing of smoke bombs, damage to bars and restaurants, scuffles and stand-offs between an 800-strong police presence and hardline PSG supporters known as ‘ultras’.
In all 30 people, including three security officers, suffered injuries and 21 arrests were made following the disturbances, announced Paris police commissioner Bernard Boucault.
There were numerous smoke bombs and objects thrown at the players’ podium, and a strong surge by the crowd when the players got onto the podium. Police officers reinforced security around the podium which resulted in objects being thrown at the security forces.
“It was the fault of the ultras, we couldn’t celebrate because of them,” one fan said. Another, Alexandre, said: “The festival was ruined.”
The main rightwing opposition UMP party accused Interior Minister Manuel Valls of “amateurism” and “inertia” in face of the violence, with local UMP mayor Claude Goasguen calling for him to resign. “The security of the people, the supporters, the players and the journalists was not assured,” Goasguen complained in a statement.
Boucault said that given the disturbances, PSG would never be granted “a public celebratory parade again”.
Earlier, PSG chairman Nasser al-Khelaifi, in an interview, had reminded Real that Ancelotti still had a year tying him to Parc des Princes. “A few days ago, the director general of Real Madrid (Jose Angel Sanchez) contacted me to talk about him (Ancelotti). I told them very quickly, ‘if you want to try to get Carlo, you must know he has a year left on his contract. So please respect us and respect this contract’,” L’Equipe quoted al-Khelaifi as saying. “He apologised. He told me he thought that Carlo’s contract expired at the end of this season. I told him that was not so and that Carlo’s deal had another year to run. He said in that case they would take that on board.”
Real are widely expected to part company with Jose Mourinho this summer after three years with the Portuguese former Chelsea boss, who is believed to be headed back to England.