(Football news) Despite a star studded squad comprising some of the best players on the planet, Paris Saint-Germain were knocked out of the Champions League once again after a 3-0 aggregate defeat to Bayern Munich. It’s quite telling that a team comprising two of the most expensive players of all time in Neymar (who was absent for the second leg) and Kylian Mbappe along with the greatest footballer in history: Lionel Messi couldn’t score a single goal over 180 minutes.
Paris Saint-Germain have spent £1bn since the Qatari’s took over in 2012 and went on to win eight of the 10 Ligue 1 titles and 12 domestic cups. However, the ultimate dream has always been to win the Champions League, which has been notoriously elusive for Paris Saint-Germain despite their transfer activity. The French giants have reached the quarter-finals in each of the first seasons and have been eliminated from the last 16 in five of the last seven seasons. The closest they came was the 2020 final where they lost to Bayern Munich.
Perhaps it’s time for a change of strategy and a shift from buying big name players and building a cohesive team. The current side lack an identity and seem like a group of expensive superstars who don’t work together as an effective unit. As for Mbappe, the French international became PSG’s highest goalscorer in history, scoring 201 goals in 248 games since his £165m move from Monaco but his team’s failure to secure the Champions League might motivate him to look for a move away. To make matters worse, Lionel Messi is also out of contract this summer and while he is interested in staying on, no agreement is in place yet.
A change in manager is also not out of the question as Galtier, along with five others before him have failed to deliver the Champions League. Carlo Ancelotti and Thomas Tuchel have both won the trophy after leaving Paris Saint-Germain, which would lead the hierarchy to question the team’s structure and strategy to analyze their own failures. As things stand, winning the Ligue 1 seems all but a certainty as they are eight points ahead of Marseille at the top but that isn’t the target they were aiming for when the season began.
Also read: Bayern Munich knockout PSG with a 3-0 aggregate win
