Bayern, PSG seal domestic league crowns in below-par seasons
Bayern Munich and Paris St. Germain eased to league titles in Germany and France on Saturday in a season that could well be regarded as a failure for both European heavyweights.
Both sides have made a habit of winning the domestic leagues over the past decade, but their campaigns will probably be assessed by their failure in the European elite clubs competition, the Champions League.
New faces, same scenario
Serge Gnabry opened the scoring for the Bavarians on Saturday with Robert Lewandowski and Jamal Musiala bagging goals either side of an Emre Can’s penalty for Borussia Dortmund, as a 3-1 victory in Der Klassiker secured a 10th consecutive Bundesliga crown for Bayern Munich with three games left.
With a new head coach in Julian Nagelsmann, Bayern great Oliver Kahn as the new CEO, and some fresh faces in the backline following the departure of David Alaba and Javi Martinez among others, it was business as usual for a team going through a transition phase.
Polish striker Lewandowski has been scoring at will all season – 48 in 43 outings across all competitions – and German midfielder Thomas Mueller kept delivering assists for Bayern, which also benefited from Dortmund’s rollercoaster form and Leipzig’s poor run in the first half of the campaign.
“It was an opportunity to set the record straight. There has been a lot of frustration recently and it was an opportunity to let off steam. Now everything is wonderful,” Mueller, who became the first player to win 11 Bundesliga titles, said after Saturday’s win.
“This is not boring. This is outstanding. The more you win, the greedier you get every year.”
But the defensive vulnerability, despite the signing of French center-back Dayot Upamecano, began to show when Bayern conceded five goals against
Gladbach in the second round of the German Cup, Dfb-pokal, in October for the Bavarians’ heaviest defeat in the competition.
It then caught up with Bayern in the Champions League when the German giants were outplayed by underdogs Villarreal to crash out in the quarterfinal stage earlier this month.
Ongoing hunt
Corentin Jean scored an 88th-minute equalizer for 10-man RC Lens in Parc des Princes to cancel out Lionel Messi’s second-half strike for PSG, but the 1-1 draw was still enough for Mauricio Pochettino’s side to secure a record-equaling 10th Ligue 1 trophy with four games to spare.
A busy summer transfer business, which saw the addition of Achraf Hakimi, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Georginio Wijnaldum, Sergio Ramos, and, of course, Argentine superstar Messi, declared PSG as the clear favorites to end the pursuit of the Champions League glory.
However, another European campaign ended in despair for the French capital club early in the knockout phase, when PSG suffered a 3-2 aggregate loss to Real Madrid in the round of 16 in early March.
Despite the wealth of talent in a squad spearheaded by Kylian Mbappe, Messi and Neymar, PSG will have to make do with just the Ligue 1 trophy this year as it was also knocked out of the French Cup early.
For PSG fans, however, the league title was no consolation for yet another Champions League failure.
PSG sporting director Leonardo admitted that mistakes were made after frustrated fans opted not to celebrate the domestic crown on Saturday.
“I made mistakes, I have done things – on recruitment, management – that might have had an impact on our results,” Leonardo said.
“Everyone has an impact on the season, we have to take responsibility,” said Leonardo, who added that “decisions (would) be made” during the off-season, without elaborating.
“We are going through a difficult period with the fans and we hope it will get better. We’re in a democracy and we accept all protests,” Pochettino, who has done little to improve PSG’S fortunes in Europe since taking over 16 months ago, told a news conference.
“But we have to show respect for this title.”