Is it time for Paris St. Germain to “tear it all up” and start over after their 11th consecutive effort to win the Champions League failed to end in anything but more misery?
Bayern Munich eliminated them in the first round of the elimination round after defeating them 2-0 on Wednesday in Germany.
A team that featured Lionel Messi, who is regarded as the best player in football history, Neymar, who was injured for the second leg, and Kylian Mbappe, the two most expensive players in history, failed to score for more than 180 minutes.
“The goal of the Paris St. Germain endeavor was to win the Champions League, but they have fallen well short of that. The outcome eventually appears to be a failure, “Joe Cole, a former playmaker for Chelsea, stated on BT Sport.
Owen Hargreaves, a former England midfielder, said: “They have a huge number of outstanding people. There is no team. It’s unfortunate. Despite assembling such a stellar cast, they appear to be losing ground.”
Christophe Galtier, the PSG manager, said: “It’s a major letdown. We have to accept it and cope with it.
“There is a lot of frustration, but I’m not sure if there is a lesson to be learnt. It would have been different if we had opened the scoring, but we didn’t.”
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With a Qatari ownership change in 2012, PSG has spent over £1 billion and has won eight of the ten Ligue 1 championships as well as 12 domestic cups.
But the owners’ dream of playing in the Champions League doesn’t seem to be getting any closer. In five of the last seven seasons, they have lost in the round of 16 after making it to the quarterfinal in each of the first four.
The 2020 final, which they lost to Bayern, was an exception.
Their teams typically featured superstar attacking talent at the top but lacked balance or solidity.
Cole stated: “They are not themselves. Describe them. It’s all spontaneous. There does not appear to be a strategy. They are a team with scars. They’ve exited games in strong situations over the past four years, which has affected the club’s morale.
“They have invested in some of the top athletes over the last 20 years. Young French players scattered over Europe might do what these young men are achieving at a quarter of the price and with a more recognizable identity.”
Kingsley Coman, a Parisian who left PSG on a free transfer in 2014, scored Bayern’s winning goal in both the first leg of this match and the 2020 final.
Cameroonian striker Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, who also left PSG for free, scored Bayern’s opening goal on Tuesday.
Hargreaves, a former midfielder for Bayern, said: “PSG ought to scrap the entire undertaking and start over. Paris has the best youthful talent pool in the entire globe.
“Why are they traveling to Leicester, Salzburg, or Dortmund? They ought to all be PSG players.
“They might take those guys and win Ligue 1 before adding one or two superstars.”
How are Messi, Mbappe, and Neymar doing now?
K. Y. Mbappe
The top goal scorer for PSG all-time is Kylian Mbappe (center).
Mbappe has been one of PSG’s most lucrative acquisitions. He left Monaco for £165 million in 2017, and this weekend, he passed Ronaldo as the club’s all-time leading scorer with 201 goals in 248 games.
One of the few Parisians on their team, the World Cup winner from 2018, may feel compelled to depart in order to become one of the all-time greats of the game.
Mbappe still has one more year left on his contract, and even if he wants to go, they won’t let him, according to French journalist Julien Laurens.
“Because he is only 24 and has yet to win the Champions League, he does not consider it to be an obsession. Becoming the first to bring home the trophy for PSG, he noted, would be especially significant.”
Messi is one player whose contract expires this summer. The 35-year-old captain of Argentina is rumored to be interested in staying, but he hasn’t committed to a new contract just yet.
Since leaving Barcelona two summers ago, he has won a record seven Ballons d’Or and scored 29 goals in 64 games for PSG, but he has not been the inspiration for the elusive Champions League title.
Laurens remarked, “Messi’s contract with the club is still being discussed, but tonight he wasn’t good enough.
“While his potential is undeniable, at his age Leon Goretzka catches up to him from five yards behind while he is on the counterattack. He is no longer my opinion good enough for this level.”
Brazilian forward Neymar, 31, departed Barcelona in 2017 for PSG for a record-breaking £200 million because he was playing in Lionel Messi’s absence.
His career with the team has been marked by ailments, and last week the news that he needed knee surgery brought an early end to his season.
Laurens predicted that they would try to sell him again after trying to last year.
Steve McManaman, a former winger for Liverpool, stated on BT Sport: “The following season won’t see much improvement from PSG.
“Both Lionel Messi and Sergio Ramos will be a year older. Later in the seasons, Neymar struggles to maintain his fitness. Marquinhos is advancing. The major actors will have to change.”
Is it time to replace managers?
Gaultier, Christophe
Will Christophe Gaultier still have a job once PSG wins the Ligue 1 championship?
Galtier is the sixth appointment under the Qatari government, and like the previous five, he has not succeeded in winning the Champions League.
After leaving, Carlo Ancelotti and Thomas Tuchel, two of the previous five, went on to win Europe’s top trophy.
Galtier, who took over for Mauricio Pochettino in the summer, is one of just two managers in the past ten years who have prevented PSG from winning the French championship while leading Lille to victory in 2021.
They lead Marseille by eight points at the top and are therefore certain to win another Ligue 1 championship.
“The important period will be the following few days. Galtier, in my opinion, will complete the season and, ideally, take the league “Laurens stated. “I wouldn’t anticipate him to be here when the new season begins.”
Joleon Lescott, a former Everton defender, said: “Some of the top football coaches in the world have visited, but they were unable to come up with a solution.
“The closest was Tuchel, but he fell short. I can’t think of a single problem. Because there are so many problems, everything won’t just get better after you solve them all.”