While Paris Saint-German have dominated the French Ligue 1 since Qatar’s 2011 purchase, they have consistently fallen short in the UEFA Champions League.
For the eleventh straight year since the Arab takeover, they failed to reach their ultimate season goal, highlighting a weakness that had been largely ignored.
Bayern Munich, a club that has tormented the French club in the past, won 3-0 on aggregate to knock the former trio Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, and Neymar out of the tournament in the Group Stage.
Although the events on the field might be used to justify PSG‘s elimination, the fact that they were eliminated is problematic for a team boasting some of the game’s highest-priced players.
Numerous stars, but no UCL trophy
The Parc des Princes outfit have, for the most part, put an emphasis on promoting and recruiting well-known players. They always tried to sign big names, even when it seemed like Messi and Neymar were out of reach.
When PSG initially emerged, Zlatan Ibrahimovic was their poster boy, and for good reason: he helped them rack up ridiculous statistics and win Ligue 1.
After the Swede established himself as PSG’s star player, subsequent stars Neymar, Mbappe, and Messi have all excelled. Yet none of them has claimed a UEFA Champions League title for the French club.
The club made the mistake of concentrating on amassing stars instead of creating cohesion and a sense of purpose among the players. Even superstars in sports need backup.
What intrigues the situation is that they consistently rank among the favorites to win the UEFA Champions League season after season. However, when it comes to critical matches, they often fall short of achieving this goal.
Despite substantial investments, lavish spending, and the presence of world-class talents in their squad, there appears to be something missing in the PSG project that hinders them from competing effectively against the top contenders in Europe’s most prized competition.
What did Thiago Silva say of PSG?
Former PSG defender Thiago Silva spoke with The Guardian on the club’s Champions League disappointments during his eight years there. Silva guided Les Parisiens to 7 Ligue 1 championships during his stint in Paris but they could only achieve 1 Champions League final.
After leaving the French capital, Silva and Chelsea won the Champions League, thanks in large part to the centre-back’s performance.
Thiago SIlva won the Champions League with Chelsea in 2021
The Brazilian signed a free-agency deal with the Blues in 2020. When the next year rolled around, he and ex-Paris boss Thomas Tuchel would be the ones to hoist the trophy.
In their quest to win the UEFA Champions League, the Qatari-owned club acquired players like Silva. In 2020, Paris Saint-Germain competed in and lost the Champions League final against Bayern Munich.
Despite this, the experienced defender has acknowledged that Qatar Sports Investment has made errors since acquiring the French club in 2011.
“You’re not going to achieve everything just because you have a lot of money. That is not how football works,” he said in an interview with The Guardian.
“If you don’t have a clear plan of what you want, things won’t work out. First and foremost, you have to be respected inside your country in order to be respected outside. We didn’t do that. We did the opposite. We wanted to be loved abroad, but we didn’t do anything to be respected at home.”
Photo credit: IMAGO / PanoramiC IMAGO / PRiME Media Images
