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PSG turns to Star Wars amid terror fears as Paris Olympics chiefs brace for launch

Quite where all this is going boggles the mind. Just over 24 hours after the French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin declared that Paris Saint-Germain's Champions League match against Barcelona at the Parc des Princes had featured on an Islamic State video as a target, PSG and their fans reacted to the terror threat before the game with tunes from the sound track of the Star Wars movies and skits on two of the saga's main characters.

As a tifo depicting Darth Vader in a Barcelona shirt was unfurled at one end of the stadium, the interstellar hitman’s Imperial March blared out of the public address system's weapons-grade speakers.

Naturally, the tifo of Yoda, the pocket-sized Jedi guru cum galactic do-gooder, was with the diehards down at the other end of the arena as a PSG star striker brandishing a light sabre in each hand in the PSG colours.

The unfettered zaniness ahead of one of the most prestigious night’s in the European football calendar also seemed incongruous with the air of caution and carefulness promulgated by Darmanin as he toured the river police forces in Paris on Tuesday.

But PSG during its big spending era has often operated as a hyper space where decorum and logic appear to have been zapped.

Following the tussle at the Parc des Princes, Vader's boys will take a 3-2 advantage to Spain where PSG will attempt to stage a rebellion in order to pursue their Champions League destiny.


Read more on RFI English

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