Who could have thought that Paris Saint-Germain will get eliminated from UEFA Champions League in the round of 16 after signing Lionel Messi, Sergio Ramos, Achraf Hakimi, Gianluigi Donnarumma and Georginio Wijnaldum — Their Galacticos Signings, but it did happen as 13-time UCL champions Real Madrid knocked them out.
PSG chairman Nasser Al Khelaifi and sporting director Leonardo Araújo assembled one of the most prolific trios in football history Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe but it failed miserably in the first season due to major technical flaws in the club’s playing style. The French giants turned to a European powerhouse in the past decade by dominating the Ligue 1 but the Champions League trophy remained a dream for them. In the quest to get their hands on the elusive trophy, PSG signed Neymar and Mbappe in the same transfer window in 2017, the best they were able to do with them was reaching the final in 2020 where the Thomas Tuchel men’s suffered defeat to Bayern Munich. The club parted ways with Tuchel next season and signed Mauricio Pochettino as a manager to unlock their biggest achievement. Pochettino, who transformed Tottenham Hotspur during his tenure in London, failed to create any major impact in his first season at Paris.
In 2021, The Les Parisiens signed arguably the greatest football player – Messi whose contract extension with Barcelona was stalled at the final moments due to the Catalan giants’ financial crisis. Messi joined PSG after guiding Argentina to their first major international trophy in 28 years – Copa America. The Argentine was on sky nine and the footballing world predicted that PSG’s wait for a UCL trophy will finally end with Messi’s arrival. Unfortunately for PSG, things didn’t pan out well for them. But is it Messi’s fault only that PSG failed to achieve European glory?
The 34-year-old has set a bar for himself that nobody dares to match apart from him. He didn’t have the best of start with PSG with only 2 league goals so far this season and after the UCL exit, the PSG Ultras jeered the football great during the clash against Bordeaux. The football fans across the globe were not happy with the reception Messi received against Bordeaux but it was not entirely wrong. When you signed Messi everyone expected something special from their team and Messi failed to deliver, however, it was not entirely his fault that PSG suffered against Real Madrid. The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner was the heart and soul of the Barcelona team as the entire sporting structure revolved around the little magician there. Messi lifted all the trophies there from La Liga to Champions League and after the departure of several stars like Xavi, Iniesta, Neymar and Luis Suarez, he carried the club on his own and made them relevant in European football. His first year at PSG has not been the same, the playing style is nowhere matches the Barcelona way which plays an elegant, passing and possession-based football where Messi excelled in every aspect. He scored 5 goals in PSG’s short UCL campaign and nowhere close to what everyone expected him to produce.
PSG and Pochettino failed to take advantage of having Messi in their squad. He has been criticized heavily this season for walking on the pitch when the opposition is having the possession. The Argentine has played the same way in his entire footballing career and it’s quite difficult to change it in just a season. With him joining the club, many predicted that Pochettino will change the playing style but he didn’t as the team look disorganized on the pitch with Messi and Neymar doing inferior work without the ball as compared to others.
Despite being a far superior side on papers in the French league, PSG suffered defeats to Nantes, Nice and Rennes this season and adding to that they have played a couple of underwhelming draws to Marseille and Lyon. In the Champions League, PSG lost to Manchester City (1-2) and they drew to Club Brugge (1-1). All these things happened before the clash against Real Madrid but Pochettino failed to address the issue. The Argentine didn’t manage megastars like Messi, Neymar and Mbappe in his career which led to a major downfall. The 50-year-old is probably not the best suit for PSG which the club should have realised last season when PSG failed to win the Ligue 1 title.
Looking at the other signings, Ramos’ arrival at the Le Parc des Princes has been a nightmare for both the player and the club. The ageing superstar has been on the sidelines for about 80 per cent of matches so far this season due to injury. Ramos left Real Madrid with a daunting legacy full of trophies but at PSG nothing has gone right for him and if reports are to believe the club might show him an exit door next season.
Hakimi and Donnarumma were the two young players who joined PSG as future prospects. The duo had proved their mettle in the Serie A for the Milan clubs. However, they both had an unforgettable night at Santiago Bernabeu, especially Donnarumma who is taunted as the main culprit for Karim Benzema scoring the third goal which knocked PSG out of UCL. It is too early to pass judgement on the duo as they have aged by their side to prove their critics wrong.
Gini Wijnaldum picked PSG over Barcelona as he thought Pochettino had a vision for him in the side full of stars. The Netherlands midfielder arrived at the club with a reputation for tasting success at Liverpool. But he failed to impress the manager in PSG as Pochettino tends to start with other midfielders over him this season so far.
The five signings were a huge boost for PSG who already had players like Neymar, Mbappe, Marco Verratti, Angel di Maria, Mauro Icardi, Marquinhos and Keylor Navas in the squad. They built a team of Galacticos trying to replicate the Real Madrid formula and got knocked by them eventually.
In the clash against Madrid, it was Marquinhos and his defending partner Presnel Kimpembe who were mediocre against the likes of Karim Benzema and Luka Modric who ran the show in the second half of the tie to overturn a 0-2 deficit into 3-2.
PSG are currently leading the Ligue 1 table with a healthy lead of 15 points and expected to lift their trophy but their dream to lift the UCL title is over and things are going to get difficult for the club at the end of the season with Mbappe all set to leave them. The French superstar’s contract with the French giants will end after this season and Real Madrid have set eyes on him which is also his dream club. He publicly stated earlier this season that he asked PSG for letting him leave and join the Los Blancos but the club didn’t want to lose their star players. Madrid even offered them about 150 million dollars to sign the 23-year-old but the PSG chairman refused the offer and now ultimately Mbappe will leave PSG for free leaving Messi and Neymar in a mess which they have to clean next season if the duo stays. Pochettino is also expected to leave the club next season and PSG have to make some massive changes in the squad if they have to fulfil their UCL dream but for that, they have to build their style around Messi because with him having in the line-up it’s crucial to set up a plan with him in insight otherwise things are going to backfire which happened this season.
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