Why Did PSG Act So Weird After Beating Dortmund? We Asked a PSG Fan

Paris Saint-Germain are in the headlines following their 2-0 win over Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday night, but not because of the actual football.

PSG decided to focus their efforts on embarrassing Dortmund, taunting and insulting players en route to victory, and then they celebrated the whole thing like the world was going to end tomorrow. 

It was all a little weird.

To try and get to the bottom of it all, we spoke to a PSG fan to get an insight into the club's mentality on Wednesday.

What Did PSG Do?

For those unaware, PSG publicly mocked ​Dortmund striker Erling Haaland after the game. They posted images of the players performing Haaland's signature celebration, while Neymar did the same on his own ​Instagram account.​

During the game, the likes of Ángel Di María and Mauro Icardi were caught on camera calling Dortmund "sons of b*****s" and calling for more goals to completely humiliate their opponents. 

The fun didn't stop there, as PSG players took to the streets to party with fans and celebrate their victory, despite the fact that the game was played behind closed doors because of the coronavirus outbreak. It all seemed more than a little excessive. 

Why Did They Target Haaland?

The ​PSG players were incensed by Haaland, who bagged two goals in the first leg. They felt he was too cocky, and a large part of that came from an image on Snapchat which appeared to show Haaland write "my city, not yours" ahead of the game.

There's just one problem: the post wasn't real.

PSG believed it was real and chose to bite back with their own troll, which is all part of the game. You take a punch, you give a punch.

Why Were They So Annoyed With Dortmund?

Obviously, a lot of PSG's anger was directed towards Haaland, but the Norwegian was not their primary target. The French side were angered by their opponents​' constant taunting on social media, as well as the hype storm that surrounded Haaland, who was the poster boy for all the mockery.

There were posts from ​Axel Witsel, ​Lars Ricken and ​Dortmund themselves, while the club also ​taunted famous PSG supporter DJ Snake after he tried to defend the French side.

There was an air of disrespect from Dortmund, and that's why PSG hit back. 

Why Were the Celebrations So Wild?

Given the game was played behind closed doors, fans weren't supposed to get involved, but PSG ignored all safety warnings to celebrate the victory, and that's because there was a sense of relief.

Fans fear that the club is 'cursed'. Since 2017, PSG have been utterly humiliated by Manchester City, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Manchester United, and they constantly face accusations that the players have 'no balls' - particularly targeting Thiago Silva, who has often been spotted crying after losing big games.

Winning the ​Champions League is all that matters to PSG, given they are so far ahead of the rest in Ligue 1, so to see the dream falling apart for the fifth year in a row after the first leg was tough to take for both fans and players.

The first leg was awful, the second was played without fans and Dortmund had been mocking them. It felt personal, so winning meant an incredible amount, and then to see fans after the game all come en masse to celebrate was incredibly touching. Celebrating so much with them ​felt like the only thing to do.

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