Jean-Marc Pilorget knows the value of a Ligue 1 title.
The former Paris Saint-Germain defender was a guest of honour at the Parc des Princes on Saturday night, ahead of PSG's top-of-the-table showdown with RC Lens. He is the club's record appearance holder, having featured in 435 matches between 1975 and 1989. Now 65, he was presented to the crowd before the game and was then pictured alongside modern-day heroes Marquinhos and Marco Verratti; two players who are closing in on his record with 401 and 409 appearances respectively.
Before the main event got under way, Pilorget was invited to make the ceremonial kick-off. As he walked onto the pitch, he was greeted by Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe. He shook their hands in the centre circle, exchanging a few words. For supporters of a certain generation, that moment should resonate, not least in the context of what Messi and Mbappe helped accomplish as the night went on. They all but secured a record 11th league title thanks to their talent, defined by a third goal, in a 3-1 win, of the highest quality.
Pilorget was a bridge to the past, on a night that may only be given its complete reverence in the fullness of time. While Mbappe, Messi and PSG saunter to another championship success, Pilorget had to wait 11 years before finally securing the club's first league title, in 1986.
That was a time when a league title would feel very different to how they are perceived here today.
“We are following the same course, namely that it took us some time before winning a first title,” Pilorget said of the club's direction after the game. “The club today continues to win titles. Not the one hoped for, of course, by all the supporters or the directors, or the players, but that still takes time. It takes reflection. Maybe a little more. But it will come — it will come. I am convinced of that.”
Reflection is not always possible at PSG these days; not in an era of gilded success and luxury excess. But for supporters, it is worth doing, especially on a night like this when Mbappe and Messi showcased their greatness in PSG colours, on what should be a defining moment in the club's history.
To appreciate it in the here and now, you have to strip everything else away. Strip away the noise about Messi's future and his performance levels. Strip away the questions of 'Kylian Saint-Germain'. Strip away the considerable caveat of a wealth advantage and the frustrations surrounding the team's recent form. Strip away the need for Champions League success and wishing for something greater, and just reframe Saturday night's match with Lens as the Ligue 1 title clincher that it ultimately was.
You are left with the brilliance of Messi and Mbappe, toying with their opponents and overwhelming them with their star quality. Two of the game's finest-ever players on the same team sheet. Individually, it was also the night that Mbappe became PSG's outright all-time leading goalscorer in Ligue 1 with 139 goals.
It should be revered. Were you there when Mbappe and Messi danced their way through the Lens defence with effortless grace, conducting a one-two complete with a backheel and finish?
It does not feel that way now, though, because you cannot strip away all of the conditions that dictate the sentiments of the moment. The appreciation of greatness is diluted by everything that surrounds it. This is seen as 'just another' Ligue 1 title. It is a minimum requirement in the setting of a club that goes all-in, emotionally, on a European knockout competition that invariably requires some fortune in addition to collective excellence to triumph.
Even the performance itself by PSG, especially in the second half, was spent mostly at walking pace, cigar in hand, as Lens toiled valiantly but pointlessly, unable to overcome the handicap of a 20th-minute red card.
The night did not carry the magic it might have done.
But the fact remains that Paris Saint-Germain are among only two fanbases to have ever seen either Messi (FC Barcelona and PSG) or Mbappe (AS Monaco and PSG) play for their club. They are — and will be — the only team to have ever seen them play together; two players that have already etched their names into the iconography of the game, defined by a World Cup final late last year where the two sparred against each other in a true battle for the ages. On Saturday, they were at the heart of two of three outstanding goals that ended Lens' title hopes, in the same way they silenced the Stade Velodrome, of Marseille, in February during a 3-0 win.
Messi, superbly set up by Mbappe, finishes the move to put PSG 3-0 up on the night (Photo: Aurelien Meunier – PSG/PSG via Getty Images)
Hindsight, ultimately, might have to elevate the gravitas of this game. And it probably will, as all of this may not last forever. Not just boasting two of the greatest players to have ever played the game, but this dominance of French football. PSG may be the king now, but what happens if the Qatari money ever slows? Or if another club in France is bolstered by similar wealth?
Maybe the commercial accomplishments at the club and the legacy of this era will mean a financial disparity over the competition for years to come, or a new ring-fenced Super League changes the picture entirely. But that is not inevitable: dynasties rise and fall. If you were to ask a supporter of AS Saint-Etienne in 1981 whether they thought they would not win another title for more than 40 years, having won nine of the previous 18 on offer, they may have laughed.
But even if PSG go on to win every title in France for another decade, none will be adorned by the quality of personnel on show on Saturday night. They will not have one of the game's greatest-ever players linking up with the heir to his throne, the captain of France, the club's all-time leading goalscorer, to put to bed the challenge of a plucky title rival.
Right now there is a dullness about it all. The disgruntlement not only about the second half but also in the noise that surrounds the club, and these two stars, and whether it actually makes sense for the two to play together to provide European success, means enjoyment can be lost. In this glitzy PSG world of excess and ambivalence, appreciating greatness can be difficult.
But the raw brilliance of the talent on show remains, regardless of that backdrop. And, at some point, whether it be now or in the future, it will be savoured. The misgivings on the night will fade into the background, and it will be the skill and art of Messi and Mbappe, securing victory at the Parc des Princes, that PSG will remember.