When Lionel Messi won his fourth Champions League title with Barcelona in 2015, Barack Obama was US President, Britain was in the European Union, Mahendra Singh Dhoni was India’s ODI captain and Jose Mourinho had won a league title, at Chelsea.
Messi has not been to the final since. At age 35, the superstar finally has a World Cup title for Argentina. He is now back to the business of winning a fifth Champions League trophy.
The mission restarts on Tuesday when Paris Saint-Germain, yet to win the coveted trophy, take on Bayern Munich at Parc des Princes in the first leg of the Roundof-16.
His first try with PSG ended in the same stage against Real Madrid last season. When he last faced Bayern it was an 8-2 rout over Barcelona in the single-leg quarter finals of the pandemic-hit 2020 edition.
Both PSG and Bayern have misfired since the World Cup. PSG were unbeaten entering 2023, then lost three in the league and is out of the French Cup. Bayern still lead the Bundesliga after restarting with three straight draws.
PSG are aware of the challenge, none more so than coach Christophe Galtier.
The coach was good at identifying PSG’s weaknesses when his former teams faced the club. Galtier was undefeated in five games against PSG in two seasons with Lille and Nice, without even conceding a goal, so PSG hired the shrewd tactician as its new coach in July.
However, Galtier seems unable to remedy the same problem areas he expertly exploited. “We need to do less talking, work hard, analyse things properly,” said Galtier, who has genuine cause to worry ahead of the match against Bayern. PSG have lost four of their past 10 games with the defence leaking 13 goals. Bayern on the other hand are hitting form having scored 11 goals in three matches.
“Of course, our players have their pride, so do I,” Galtier said. “Yes, we’re worried (about facing Bayern). But we must keep a clear head.” Yet Galtier has a headache up front.
Neymar, the world’s most expensive player at 222 million euros ($237 million), has been anonymous recently for PSG.
Kylian Mbappe is expected to miss Tuesday’s game as he recovers from a thigh injury. Messi himself is nursing a sore hamstring but Galtier said the World Cup winner should be available.
Unbeaten before the World Cup, PSG’s form has nosedived. The defending French champions have been outplayed in comprehensive defeats at Lens, Rennes, Marseille and Monaco.
Also, four of PSG’s five wins during this 10-game spell were against either struggling top-flight teams or small sides in the French Cup. Furthermore, another sloppy performance saw PSG conceding a stoppage-time equaliser in a home draw with Reims.
“The time has come to shut our mouths, we know we have to improve a lot,” PSG captain Marquinhos said after last week’s French Cup defeat to Marseille, imploring teammates to urgently react.
The World Cup top scorer Mbappe, who missed the defeats to Marseille and Monaco, posted a message on Instagram in a bid to motivate teammates and fans. “Let’s stay strong and united,” he wrote.
The other game on Tuesday pairs AC Milan and Tottenham, two of the seven round-of-16 teams that are currently outside the Champions League qualifying places in their domestic leagues. Chelsea are another and visit Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday when Club Bruggehost Benfica.
Written with inputs from AP/PTI
