Paris Saint-Germain's conqueror on Monday night in the French Cup round of 16, Paris FC, remains clear-eyed about the gulf that separates it from its Parisian neighbor and dismisses any idea of a rivalry.

The question came up in journalists' mouths before and after the first derby of the year, won by PSG last Jan. 4 in Ligue 1.

On Monday, after Paris FC's victory on the pitch at the Parc des Princes (0-1) in the French Cup Round of 16, the press again tried to revive the idea of a budding rivalry between the two Parisian clubs but was quickly reined in by the match's protagonists.

"Does tonight's defeat, under somewhat special conditions from what we hear, spice up a bit more the rivalry that could exist in seasons to come between Paris SG and Paris FC?" a journalist thus asked Luis Enrique in the post-match press conference. "Not particularly," retorted the Spaniard, visibly surprised by such a question.

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The night's decisive passer, Ilan Kebbal, was also a bit uncomfortable in the mixed zone when answering a question about the rivalry between the two clubs: "No, no," smiled the left-footer. "There is no rivalry; they are far too strong for us at the moment. They are very, very far ahead of us, even from many teams. I've already played against great players and great teams, but frankly, they are too strong. Today, we won, we had some success, we are happy, but the most important thing now is the league match on Sunday against Nantes."

Paris FC, promoted this season to Ligue 1, indeed occupies 15th place in Ligue 1 after 17 matchdays and is well aware of the gulf that separates it from PSG. "It will perhaps take seven, eight, nine years... Where PSG is right now, it will take time for Paris FC to try to get closer," thus admitted Stéphane Gilli, the PFC coach, with clear-eyed realism after his team's qualification. "So, there is no rivalry. But I am proud of my players, the club, the directors, the shareholders, and especially our supporters. Now, I still cannot speak of a rivalry, first because of the standings, and there is what this team has done in recent years, the Champions League, they have won practically all the trophies... So there is no rivalry."

After the first derby of the year won by PSG last Jan. 4, PFC captain Maxime Lopez had also brushed aside this idea of a budding rivalry with the reigning European champion with a wave of the hand: "It's nice to have two clubs in Paris, but today, there is too big a gap between PSG and PFC. First, we must stay up, and after that, perhaps we could write a history already in Ligue 1 and maybe create a derby with PSG, but we are still far from that. We are only at the beginning of our project, and it would be too pretentious to talk about a real derby."

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