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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Team packed with Mercenaries, Di Maria couldnt string two passes together last night
They need a manager who can manage all the egos at PSG. Unfortunately for PSG, there only four managers who can do that.
1. Ancelotti, who was already there and didn’t win a Champions League,
2. Zidane, who won’t leave Madrid unless pushed and is a Marseille fan regardless,
3. Mourinho-who has just signed a new contract with United and
4. Guardiola-who still has another couple of years at City before he continues his usual policy of changing clubs.
My money is on Wenger leaving Arsenal at the end of the season one way or another and joining PSG for his last job in football.
@EK: Conté
@Dave O Keeffe: Good shout. Depends on his stomach for the fight considering how things are going at Chelsea. Conte has spoken about homesickness quite a bit while in London.
@EK: I like the way you say Pep will move on like he does which is fair but you also say Mourinho has signed a new contract, even though he has never stayed more than 3 seasons anywhere.
@EK: maybe , but whenever I see wealthy owners say ‘we want to continue THE PROJECT ” it makes me wonder if they really give a f4ck about the football at all – they want the glory of a Champions league Final Trophy but almost without exception the winners have been football clubs that build a decent football ‘team’ and more of a legacy and history over a period of time – oil rich nations like Qatar with no football tradition at all are ruining the sport which is decending into throwing hundreds of millions at bunches of individuals – cant say its making the sport any better IMO
I was expecting PSG to knock out Real Madrid. But how wrong was I.
@Just Some Guy: I thought they’d win the f*ckin thing outright. I’ve been saying it for months. But of course they get hammered in the first round. Typical.
I’m laughing here reading about soccer followers thinking PSG had a chance . With that manager they have zero possibilities . They have enough quality players but that’s it . The sum of the parts is less than their individual worth ..
It’s not even Real Madrid’s best year , they were missing Modric , Kroos and Bale on the bench and there was never a doubt .
If Real make the final they’ve it won ..
Di Maria has clearly given up on football since leaving Real Madrid, a few glimpses here and there but overall he’s stealing a wage.
@AngryDave: Bit if an overreaction that imo. He has scored 13 in he’s last 14 ( hardly a glimpse). Widely regarded as PSG best player of 2018 despite the forwards they bought. Granted the French league is a poor league and Di Maria was by far the worst player on tell pitch last night.
They are playing in an non competitive league so are completely unprepared to up their game in the champions league against decent opposition.
Neymars and Mbappes don’t win titles when it comes to serious European competition. It takes proper defences and midfields to do that. If they had just kept Cavani, Di Maria, Motta, Draxler, Pastore as their first team attacking options and spent the 400 million on defence and midfield they would have a much better chance.
Just as long as they didnt throw 50 million at the likes of David Luiz.
@Eoin Finnega: you can’t win a CL without a top class midfield , you’re absolutely right . Look at any team that’s won a CL and it’s their midfield that demonstrates their level .
That’s why I’m not convinced Liverpool can do it and with Iniesta getting older Barca have fallen back . Madrid on the other hand still have a top class midfield with Casemiro and Kovacic as improving back up to Kroos , Modric , Isco etc etc
Did anyone really expect PSG to get the better of Real Madrid over 2 legs. I didn’t. They have the best player in the world, probably the best of all time. When he is there, They are very difficult to stop, especially for opposition who are not a true ‘team’