FRENCH TOAST
Once again the pampered princes of Paris have fallen short in the Champions League... how much longer can they spend big and look small?
PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN are football’s equivalent of HS2 – billions spent and nothing to show for it.
Their humiliating exit at the hands of Borussia Dortmund, who are fifth in the Bundesliga, means they have managed just one final from their 12 Champions League campaigns under their Qatari owners.
They have spent over £1.6billion on players, but superstar Kylian Mbappe, the last of the Holy Trinity with Neymar and Lionel Messi, is leaving to join Real Madrid in the summer.
Mbappe will leave a chasm in the team – PSG’s next top scorer after his 36 goals is Gonçalo Ramos with 11. Ousmane Dembele, who cost Barcelona £117million in 2017, has managed just five.
PSG chairman Nasser AlKhelaifi shot down any suggestion boss Luis Enrique could go, insisting their longterm plan is on track. “We are building a long-term project with the youngest squad in Europe,” he declared after the defeat by Dortmund.
“The future will be bright. We’l keep going.”
Al-Khelaifi consoled himself by the fact PSG hit the woodwork six times over the two legs of their semi-final, but conveniently overlooked their failure to score in over 180 minutes.
“We wanted to win, but congratulations to Dortmund,” he said. “We really thought we could get to the final. We were the better team. I’m proud of our team, the youngest in Europe. It’s the third time in five years that we’ve made the semi-finals. Of course, this wasn’t our objective but it’s football and sometimes it isn’t fair.” Boo hoo, pass the tissues. Without Mbappe, the world’s best player, it is very hard to see Enrique building a Champions Leaguewinning side in Paris.
PSG continue to look like a bunch of highly-talented individuals who are not a cohesive team. Compare
their lack of grit with that shown in bucketloads by Dortmund, who fully deserved their victory as they packed their box with yellow shirts and took their chances.
Al-Khelaifi insists PSG will continue on their path under Enrique but the future looks increasingly bleak for one of the world’s richest clubs.
Real, with Mbappe added to Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Jnr, will be the team to beat next year, while Manchester City are going nowhere. Bayern Munich will also stick around. Arsenal are getting stronger and Liverpool will surely be back under a new manager.
Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen will take some beating next season under the all-conquering Xabi Alonso, while Barcelona are still Barcelona despite their money problems.
The lack of top-level competition in France could be stunting PSG’s development. They do not have enough big games to prepare for the cutthroat Champions League knockout stages. In fact they are almost seen as soft touches once the going gets tough in Europe’s elite competition.
It’s certainly not the fault of their managers: their list of gaffers under the Qataris reads like a who’s who of top coaches – Carlo Ancelotti, Unai Emery, Thomas Tuchel, Mauricio Pochettino and now Enrique.
Al-Khelaifi is right. They need a long-term plan – it’s just difficult to see the current one working.