They’ve been here before, of course. Same disappointment, same flaws, same mistakes, same deletion, same regrets. Paris Saint-Germain knows very well what it is to crash early in the Champions League. It’s another round of 16 outing, this time against a Bayern Munich side that wasn’t even that impressive in the two games. But Joshua Kimmich & Co. didn’t need to be, because PSG in the end made things easy for the Bavarians.
It is another failed European campaign, like too many before. PSG manager Christophe Galtier, in his first and perhaps last season on the bench, can blame injuries sustained before Wednesday’s game (neymar, presnel kimpembe) and those during the match (marquinhos, nordi mukiele). It could also point to the fact that PSG finished the game with two 17-year-olds on the pitch in Warren Zaire-Emery and The Chadaille Bitshiabubut Galtier will know that he bears a large part of the responsibility for the failure of his team.
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But since the PSG coach mentioned the squad in his post-match press conference, let’s start there. kylian mbappe He also spoke about the quality of the two teams: “When you look at the two teams: they have a great team, a great team, they have a team built to win the Champions League. I said it in our first press conference of the League of Champions at the beginning of the season that we would do our maximum in this competition. And this is our maximum… this is the truth”.
Mbappe is right. PSG does not have a squad as good in quality or quantity as Bayern Munich or Manchester City. The absence of signings in January was amazing as the team clearly needed reinforcements, and some of the signings from last summer (Carlos Soler, Hugo Ekitike) have not worked. Luis Campos, PSG’s relatively new sporting director and close ally of Mbappé, is under pressure after his first two transfer windows.
It’s not about spending more money this summer, it’s about recruiting smart. Already, goals in the summer are not like the “bling bling” strategy of the past. While Milan Skriniar will arrive as a free agent in the summer, rumored targets such as Randal Kolo Muani, manu kone and Kephren Thuram they are all young, all talented and all from Paris.
This group of players needs an overhaul. The squad needs clearance and new faces, with some youngsters and others with more experience. Mbappé will be at the center of the reconstruction work. He is the project. Neymar will be offered to other clubs, but it is unlikely that he will leave due to a lack of interest from potential suitors. Meanwhile, Lionel Messi You should not renew your contract, nor should you Sergio Ramos because he is reaching the end of his career while PSG needs stars to take him to the highest level.
This team has failed the club and its supporters because, collectively, it’s not good enough, but individually, the players haven’t delivered either. Mbappé himself was well marked by Dayot Upamecano and Bayern’s defense on Wednesday. He had almost zero impact on the game. Messi was ineffective. Marco Verratti, on the wrong side of 30, has lost its magic. Ramos, who is 36 years old, can now only play in a defense of three. Then there is the Neymar issue; With his form, his injury record and his huge contract with another four years to go. The list goes on. Over the course of a Champions League campaign, that’s too many limitations for a team like this.
Despite all that, PSG played quite well in the first half in Munich. They had the best opportunities, how showcase they missed an open goal just before the break is amazing, and they controlled the pace of the game well, but couldn’t keep it up after half time. Verratti gave Bayern a goal and, when a push from the bench was needed to rescue the tie, there was hardly any talent to turn to.
PSG are too dependent on Mbappé and as much as they love and need him, they are not viable against the best teams. You need something more than the best player in the world. As we saw on Wednesday, even he can’t do everything on his own. PSG needs a strong collective full of strong individuals. They need some patterns of play, some movement, some control, some certainty. This is not the case at this time.
But to implement these ideas, you need the right manager. Is Galtier the right one for the job? He has already shown several times this season that he was not good enough for this level, admitting after Wednesday’s game that he lost the tactical battle with Bayern manager Julian Nagelsmann. Galtier will end the season with the mandatory Ligue 1 title and has one more year left on his contract.
However, right now nobody can guarantee that he will continue on the bench next season. What good would it be to keep Galtier for another year if the club is at the dawn of a new cycle? The Frenchman has always felt like a stopgap for another, better coach.
PSG need someone to build a competitive unit with a style and a philosophy, as Erik ten Hag and Mikel Arteta are doing at Manchester United and Arsenal respectively, or as Jurgen Klopp did at Liverpool seven and a half years ago. . Zinedine Zidane continues to be the dream of PSG’s Qatari owners. Could I come this summer? Of course. I would? Maybe, but only under certain important conditions. Would he be the right choice for a new cycle? That is far from certain.
Obviously, the Qataris are very disappointed by the result in Munich, but they have not yet decided on the future of the coach. What they do know already is that summer will have to be great. It’s time to get down to work so as not to spend another night like Wednesday next season.
