Where did it go wrong for PSG?

Paris Saint-Germain invested $496 million over the summer to try to buy European supremacy, only to crash out of the Champions League at the same last-16 stage as last season.

AFP Sport looks at where it went wrong for the club after it was eliminated 5-2 on aggregate by Real Madrid on Tuesday:

Neymar’s broken foot

The absence of Neymar, PSG’s main offensive weapon, weighed heavily on a team that looked short on attacking ideas without the Brazilian magician waving his wand. When PSG needed him most, and in exactly the match he was bought to win, the $264 million man was back in Brazil, recovering from a foot operation.

Cavani fires blanks

Edinson Cavani became PSG’s all-time top scorer this season, but against Real Madrid the Uruguayan couldn’t hit the target, with just a lucky bounce off his knee earning him a place on the scoresheet at Parc des Princes. When his personal goal tally is measured against Cristiano Ronaldo, the score over the two legs was 3-1 for the Portuguese World Player of the Year.

Lack of experience

In 2017, PSG blew a 4-0 lead from the first leg against Barcelona as it capitulated spectacularly at Camp Nou, losing 6-1. This year it conceded two goals in Madrid when it had seemingly been heading for a 1-1 draw that would have given it a springboard for a second-leg victory. The man who will inevitably wield the axe after the latest failure, club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi, did not mince his words: “We know Real has a lot of experience. We didn’t do what we needed to do to win.” Real has won 12 European crowns, Barcelona five, while PSG has never reached the final.

Seeing red

The tie was probably getting away from PSG anyway, but Marco Verratti’s disastrous banishment sealed its fate. The Italian midfielder’s talent has never been in question, but his temperament is seriously suspect. After earning a yellow card earlier in the match, he felt he was fouled and charged at German referee Felix Brych to protest. The red card was produced without hesitation, summing up a ragged and ill-disciplined PSG performance.

That man Ronaldo

He made two strikes to earn Real a 3-1 first-leg win. His brilliant header to open the scoring in Paris was his 117th Champions League goal, extending a remarkable record. Any of Real’s quarterfinal opponents who write off the 33-year-old will do so at their peril.