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·2 June 2026

PSG – A bitter Riolo tears into Nasser Al-Khelaïfi

Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, president of Paris Saint-Germain, made a few strong statements during the celebrations for the 2025-2026 Champions League. In particular: “Thank you Paris, thank you France. PSG is the club of all France, not just Paris.” A line that triggered the wrath of Daniel Riolo, RMC Sport journalist, who is apparently still just as angry with the Parisian executive. It was on RMC Sport’s microphone that he delivered his tirade.

Riolo: “He’s the guy who wants to establish hegemony, crush the others, who doesn’t want any other club to exist.”

“I don’t understand the sentence and, at the same time, I do understand it because it’s exactly who he is and everything I’ve been describing for months. He’s the guy who wants to establish hegemony, crush the others, who doesn’t want any other club to exist. He doesn’t defend Ligue 1, since he doesn’t want Ligue 1 to exist. He wants to conquer every market, crush the French football market.

Riolo: “He has no right to try to impose his identity on all of us.”

Everyone knows I’ve supported this club since I was a kid, but I never wanted others to love us. That’s not the point when you’re in Ligue 1. It’s us, it’s our club, it’s our life. What is this mix, this mentality? How can anyone say something like that? Everyone has their own life, their own identity. He has no right to try to impose his identity on all of us.

Riolo: “He doesn’t care about Ligue 1.”

Somewhat naively, I recently said that we needed to come together in the negotiations at the League, on the board of directors. But actually, that’s not possible, he doesn’t want everyone to get along. He doesn’t care about Ligue 1. He has his international business, it’s working incredibly well, shirt sales are exploding, markets have been conquered. He doesn’t care about Ligue 1. But there are other people living in France who have their club, their identity, and couldn’t care less about PSG. That’s how it is, that’s life. Yes, right now there’s a kind of wave around him, but there are other people living in France. Everything happening in the world of Ligue 1 is explained by that sentence. All clubs grew up in football culture, and this other guy comes and serves us this soup: ‘get behind us, all of you.’ But we don’t want your soup.”

Was the atmosphere around PSG too positive? Could Riolo not stomach so much joy and so many compliments around a club he has criticized so often, especially president Al-Khelaïfi and coach Luis Enrique (the famous “Geo finds everything”)? Maybe something is also escaping us. In any case, it is hard to understand how the Parisian executive’s words could provoke such anger.

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While Nasser Al-Khelaïfi is trying to bring people together, whether around PSG or French football overall, Riolo prefers to divide. A sad habit, with often very harsh criticism of players, coaches, or executives. Enough to make one think he likes to seek out conflict. That feeling is reinforced here, with very strong remarks against the PSG president at a time when everyone is praising him.

It was probably not a question of forcing PSG’s identity onto all of France; the president was simply emphasizing that his club also fights for French football and helps promote it on the international stage. Which is quite true. It’s a shame not to try to move in that direction, but instead to look for criticism.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇫🇷 here.