These days, everyone is in need of a laugh, so if you’re not aware of the @NoContextHearn account on Twitter that features clips from boxing promoter Eddie Hearn, saying various memorable phrases, get on it right this instant. Well, not right away, because first I’d appreciate you reading about why I’m telling you about the account.
The reason, and it is a good one, is all down to the "living in your head rent-free" meme of Hearn, which if you’ve ever visited Twitter, you’ll have seen do the rounds and is quite frankly the best way I can describe what Erling Haaland must feel about the PSG players. Haaland is, of course, quite the wonderkid – not as wonderful as I hoped when I wrote for this very website saying I could see him leading them to the Champions League – but still good enough to wind Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and co up enough for them to mock him after they knocked BVB out and progressed in a competition that may not exist anymore this season.
Not only did they mimic the striker’s goal celebration, Neymar even took to Instagram afterwards to direct a message to Haaland about Paris "being our city, not yours". Well, poor Paris is all I can say, given how Neymar clearly wants to get back to Barcelona as quickly as Coronavirus travel restrictions and the transfer window will allow him to.
It was all in response to a Snapchat from Haaland, saying Paris was "my city". Given the player does not seem to have the app at all, and PSG look like they’ve been duped by a fake photo. Jesus didn’t just weep, he went and nailed himself back on the cross.
Even if the photo was real, it’s a pathetic response from a team who we’re supposed to be taking seriously as one of the best in the world. Neymar and Mbappe want to be considered as heirs to Messi and Ronaldo, yet look more likely to end up on a reboot of Rugrats given how childlike they seem to act at times.
PSG have long had issues in the camp, on and off the field. No manager seems to be able to quite stamp it out, and we might never know if they’d have won the Champions League this season, but smart money is on no, they wouldn’t. They’re so mentally fragile they not only get battered in second legs against the elite teams, despite having huge leads from the first leg, but they let a 19-year-old's fake social media post rile them up to ridiculous levels.
To win the top trophies and be the best in the world, you’ve got to be a mentality monster, not a mentality midget, and yet sadly, PSG have shown yet again they’re the latter rather than the former. Being drawn into that kind of pettiness only ever ends one way – badly once it backfires, and PSG need to learn from their old mistakes before it’s too late, or a No Context PSG account will eclipse Eddie Hearn.
