AFTER AN HONOURABLE defeat to Barcelona on away goals in the Champions League quarter-finals in 2013, Paris Saint-Germain’s Qatari president Nasser Al-Khelaifi stated the club’s objective was to win the competition “in the next five years”.
That deadline expired with Tuesday’s limp defeat to holders Real Madrid in the last 16, leaving the French side as far away from being European champions as at any point since Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) bought the club in 2011.
For all their lavish spending, PSG have still not made it past the quarter-finals of the competition this decade, and there have now been consecutive exits in the last 16, the 5-2 aggregate loss to Cristiano Ronaldo’s Real coming after a spectacular collapse saw them crash out in Barcelona a year ago.
The strategy after that defeat was to commit to paying the two biggest transfer fees in football history last August to sign Neymar and Kylian Mbappe for a combined €402 million, an attempt to buy immediate success on the biggest stage.
It has not worked, with Neymar left watching Tuesday’s 2-1 defeat at the Parc des Princes that sealed PSG’s fate from Brazil, where he is recovering from a foot operation.
“All that for that”, was the headline on the front of sports daily L’Equipe on Wednesday, a reference mainly to the bold transfer strategy.
“We believe in our players. We want to continue the project, with the two of them because they are the future of the club,” said Al-Khelaifi on Tuesday when asked if the club’s investment should be called into question.
Seven years after QSI’s arrival, PSG have still managed to beat just three teams in the Champions League knockout stage: Valencia, Bayer Leverkusen and Chelsea.
That is a damning statistic for a club with their means and ambitions.
“We will continue, as much as patience allows, to build a team which can win in the future,” said coach Unai Emery on Tuesday.
“When I came here I said I was sure this team can win the Champions League. But it’s a process.”
- Neymar to stay, Emery out -
Soon to be out of contract, Emery will not be given another crack at the competition in Paris. The club will look for a new coach, and they will be tempted to go for a big name after the failure of the Emery experiment — the Spaniard won three Europa Leagues with Sevilla but has never won a Champions League knockout tie in six seasons of trying.
They also need to revamp their squad again, and replace the likes of Thiago Silva, Thiago Motta, Dani Alves and Angel Di Maria, all in their 30s.
The club insist they are not worried about falling foul of UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules, even if a premature European exit will mean a shortfall of millions of euros.
“We are relaxed about it. It is more of an issue outside the club than inside. It is March and we have until the end of June. There are no worries,” sporting director Antero Henrique told L’Equipe last weekend.
One thing that is unlikely to happen is Neymar leaving, despite ongoing speculation that the Brazilian has not settled in France.
Al-Khelaifi’s beIN Sports owns the exclusive international distribution rights for television coverage of the French league, and the network is currently in the process of negotiating new deals around the world. In that context, PSG selling a star such as Neymar this year is unthinkable.
But in the meantime another period of soul-searching will begin for PSG and their Qatari owners.
“Now is not the time to talk about change, everyone is upset. We want to calm down before working out what needs to be changed. We have time to think about that,” said Al-Khelaifi on Tuesday.
PSG still have three domestic trophies to go and win before the end of the season, but that seems instantly less appealing once the big prize of the Champions League is no longer up for grabs.
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Jaysus Murray. You must have been typing since the weekend! Looks like a great article. Fair play.
Murray I dunno how your not doing TV punditry or backroom analysis with a provincial or AIL set up. Your level of attention to detail is phenomenal and makes for fantastic reading. Keep it up.
@Dara Ó’Mhaoilmhiaigh:
This is the best analysis I have seen anywhere, he should be in TV Punditry or better again a professional coaching setup, the attention to detail is excellent on all phases of play shown. I particularly liked the analysis of the first try driving maul and the attention on detail of how Sexton directs play in a way that cannot come true on real time viewing.
@ktsiwot: He was working with TV3 for the world cup, was he not?
@Shanahan: He was.
Jaysus thats some article. You could print that and have a 200 page book
Wait until the home leg is over before we tell them how we did it…it would take 2wks to read that tho :)
Good man murrary.
This isn’t an article on how Ireland beat New Zealand, It’s a thesis. Looking forward to reading it but will probably take to until the rematch to get through it all.
Great analysis. Keep em coming!
That’s the kind of in depth analysis that is missing – new players, kids, dads etc need more than a refs decision to understand why things happen on the field. Rugby is a far more intricate game than most people realise. Great article, keep it up!
Yawn………….
@Nick Drake: Go to bed.
Murray analyses all of Ireland’s games with the same level of detail, regardless of the opposition or result
Outstanding as ever Murray.
I hope there’s none of the allblacks coaching team reading this.
It was a glorified exhibition match. Get over it. Cringeworthy level of analysis for a game of egg chasing.
You should consider changing your egg supplier. I’m fairly sure a rugby ball got its oval shape from a pig’s bladder
I wonder could a smiling style of article be written about referees decisions? If you were to take an average weekend and pick out a bunch of decisions from them that people may have found dodgy and break down why it is or isn’t so. Maybe you cud do two or three of both good and bad. It’d be good reading for those seriously interested in all facets of rugby and could educate a lot of people. The ref can make or break a game at times, I think good analysis in the media could do some good as well.
Dessie alternative read – we scored more points than them.
Christmas analysis book next year please Murray.
Simply put, the power of 8…
Great stuff, Murray, grma!!!
Love these articles. Dunno how the other hasn’t been snapped up as some teams video analyst. Level of detail here is really superb.
well done . i wish ireland would feel confident they can beat these all blacks they really had no respect for ireland that day.,with the team theyfielded only to bring in big guns at late stage all world except new zewland love to see ireland win again as ab think they have a god giving right to win all games . their times is up like the french rest incl ireland have seen where they are weak . congrats ireland do it again without fear . you have skilled soldiers to beat them again,, but mebe not sat as they will be in a revenge mode i fear . but ireland will have to treat them just like any other world team. ireland are strong and are colnfident now
I love these breakdowns. Superb work Murray!
Great work Murray