And so the unstarry future arrived at Paris Saint-Germain on Saturday night: a 0-0 draw against Lorient without Lionel Messi, Neymar or Kylian Mbappé – MNM as they were once lovingly known.
With Messi basking in the Florida sun with Inter Miami and Neymar out with a virus, Mbappé, one of world's best footballers, watched the match from the posh seats in the stands at the Parc des Princes as punishment for not signing a lucrative extension to his well-endowed contract.
Ousmane Dembélé – freshly signed from Barcelona on Thursday – sat next to his France international teammate to view proceedings. A penny for their unvarnished thoughts.
Down on the field to launch PSG's defence of their Ligue 1 title, new signings Goncalo Ramos and Marco Asensio led the attack.
Behind them in midfield – Kangin Lee, Vitinha, Manuel Ugarte, skipper Danilo and 17-year-old Warren Zaire-Emery, a product of the PSG academy.
They managed to dominate the visitors but for all the possession, Luis Enrique's side lacked the incisiveness that comes with the genius residing in the star troika of yore.
But those were the old days of preternaturally gifted feet.
Season 2023/24 are the times for sons of toil.
And the honest labourers were nearly punished at the end of the first-half when Laurent Abergel thrashed a shot from the right hand side of the penalty area.
PSG goalkeeper Gigi Donnarumma was beaten but the ball hit his left hand post and rolled away to safety.
Domination
PSG continued in the same vein after the pause. Passes and possession but no penetration.
Carlos Soler flashed a header over the bar soon after coming on for Asensio midway through the second-half and 13 minutes from time, another PSG substitute Fabian Ruiz brought a good save from Lorient goalkeeper Yvon Mvogo.
Ramos also went close and Soler's shot at the death flew past Mvogo's right hand post.
Once ago, the final whistle without three points secured would have brought jeers and booing around the Parc des Princes. Appreciative applause rippled instead – a sign of changing expectations.
"I can't fault the attitude of the players," said Enrique. "They were defensively very strong.
"Up front we didn't create enough chances because we didn't get into their penalty area consistently. I think we were better but we didn't score."
