08 May 2024 , 14:25
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Paris St Germain are European 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 Germany’s 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 Kylian Mbappe, the last of their Holy Trinity with Neymar and Lionel Messi, is leaving to join Real Madrid in the summer.
Mbappe will leave not just a hole, but a chasm in the team and PSG’s next top scorer after his 36 goals is Gonçalo Ramos with 11.
Ousmane Dembele, who cost Barcelona an eye-watering £117million in 2017, has managed just five.
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PSG chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi shot down any suggestion that manager Luis Enrique could go, insisting their long-term plan is on track. “We are building a long-term project with the youngest squad in Europe,” he declared after defeat to Dortmund. “The future will be bright. We will keep going.”
(Matthieu Mirville/DPPI/REX/Shutterstock)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.
Even Kylian Mbappe could not steer PSG to Champions League glory and is now leaving (Paul Currie/REX/Shutterstock)Without Mbappe, the world’s best player, it is very hard to see Enrique building a Champions League-winning side. PSG continue to look like like a bunch of world-class individuals, who are not a cohesive team.
Compare their lack of grit with that shown in abundance by Dortmund and they fully deserved their victory as they packed their box with yellow shirts and took their chances.
Al-Khelaifi insists they will continue down their path under Enrique, but the future looks increasingly bleak for one of the world’s most-moneyed clubs.
Real, with Mbappe added to Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Junior, will be the team to beat next year, while Manchester City are going nowhere.
Bayern Munich will also stick around, while Arsenal are getting stronger and Liverpool will be back.
Bayer Leverkusen will take some beating next season under the all-conquering Xabi Alonso, while Barcelona are still Barcelona, despite their money problems.
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The lack of top-level competition in France could be stunting PSG’s development and they do not have enough big games to prepare for the cut-throat Champions League knock-out stages.
It’s certainly not their managers and their list 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 and they need a long-term plan - it’s just difficult to see the current one working.
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