The prize most craved remains elusive for cash-and-talent-rich Paris Saint-Germain as the team starring Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe was, for the fifth time in seven seasons, dumped out of the Champions League at the first knockout hurdle on Wednesday.
The 2-0 loss away loss to Bayern Munich, which follows the 1-0 defeat at home in the first leg last month, ensured that PSG’s Qatar owners would have to wait for yet another season to get the trophy they have promised the club’s legion of fans.
The question is will PSG, if they continue the way they have been since Qatar Sports Investments took over the reins in 2011, ever be able to lay their hands on the Champions League trophy?
The answer is no. The team lacks heart and the willingness to fight on the big stage and Wednesday was another example of how pedestrian they look against opponents like Bayern Munich. Unless they get the basics right, they will remain a story of consistent failure.
In the last 12 years, the Qatari owners have pumped in around $1.79 billion, brought in six coaches and signed as many as 77 players! David Beckham, Neymar, Messi, Sergio Ramos, Achraf Hakimi, Mbappe, Gianluigi Donnarumma. You name it, they have it. Only if someone had drilled a simple fact in their head — dollars cannot buy you silverware. Take Bayern Munich for example. Their budget is minuscule compared to what PSG spend, but they have been hugely successful in Europe.
In Munich on Wednesday, Bayern, after settling down, just tore apart PSG. Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, formerly of PSG, got the first a minute after the hour-mark, while substitute Serge Gnabry made it 2-0 in the 89th minute. Choupo-Moting used to be vilified by the PSG fans and the French media during his stay in Paris but since his arrival at Bayern, he has improved by leaps and bounds. The 33-year-old Cameroonian capitalised on a Marco Verratti blunder to rub salt into PSG’s wounds.
“Bayern have a great team, a great squad, they have a team that is built to win the Champions League. I said at the start of the season during the first news conference that we were going to do our best. Our maximum is this. That’s the truth. We need to do some self-reflection and return to our daily life which is Ligue 1,” Mbappe said after the disappointing loss.
“We have to stick together all the time. We must have pride,” was Danilo Pereira’s take.
Mbappe is being as seen as the man who would deliver the Champions League for PSG. Somehow the feeling is when it comes to delivering on the big stage, the France international goes missing. Undoubtedly he is a player of a rare class but once again he was “absent” for the better part of the match. Match statistics would tell you he had just 33 touches.
Neymar was not there — his season is already over as his ankle needs surgery — and Messi was once again not at his best. It seems Bayern have got a way to thwart Messi. As Thomas Mueller said in jest after the match: “Against Messi, things always go well at all levels in terms of results. At the club level, Cristiano Ronaldo was our problem when he was at Real Madrid.”
In the entire 90 minutes of action, PSG got hardly any chance. One came in the first half when Vitinha had an empty goal in front of him after Bayern’s winter signing goalkeeper Yann Sommer made a bungle inside the box. Vitinha, in all nervousness, managed more of a prod and Matthijs de Ligt came out of nowhere to effect a goalline save.
The defeat will surely have knee-jerk reactions from the PSG brass. Christophe Galtier, brought in to give shape to the team, is staring at the exit door. But will it solve the bigger problem? What PSG need is heart and soul, not anything else.
