Understand what led the billionaire PSG to 11 seasons of failure in the Champions League

What was taking shape since the first leg, when it took 1-0 and was dominated at home by Bayern Munich, was confirmed on Wednesday: Paris Saint-Germain once again said goodbye to the dream of being European champion. Lost 2-0 to the Germans in the second leg, goals from Choupo-Moting and Gnabry.

It is the 11th consecutive season of failure for the French, since they were bought by Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) and became one of the richest clubs in the world. They are disappointments whose responsibility is divided between chance and error.

Unlucky in sweepstakes

Among all that Qatari money can buy for PSG – the last big acquisition was the attack formed by Neymar, Mbappé and Messi –, the only thing that is not for sale is luck. And she has been missing the French too much in the draws that define opponents in the Champions League from the round of 16 onwards.

After all, PSG can never, in these 11 years, be criticized for having fallen to a weaker team, including in financial terms. The only time the balls smiled, in 2020, they took Atalanta and Red Bull Leipzig. The team went ahead and reached the decision. He lost the title to the same Bayern, executioner of the time.

This year, in a draw that could direct him to Porto and Benfica, came the six-time champions of the Champions League. Even Chelsea, in a discreet season in the Premier League, and Napoli, who are going through a great phase on the pitch, but are more limited in terms of squad, could be easier opponents than the Germans.

But despite that misfortune, every PSG elimination in the Champions League ends up making headlines. That’s because favoritism is attributed to the club where it often isn’t, perhaps because of the glamor that surrounds everything that happens in Paris, or the cataris project, always so flashy.

This season, the team faced an opponent that is superior in two indicators that, in the imagination of the average fan, were perhaps led by the French. Bayern Munich was the team that most loaned players to the World Cup in Qatar, a sign of the quality of the squad. And the club is, according to the latest Forbes list, the fifth richest in the world, while PSG is seventh.

There are other fortuitous episodes that are repeated, such as the loss of important players due to injury on the eve of knockout matches. Mbappé entered just the second half of the first leg at Parque dos Príncipes and Neymar was absent yesterday at the Allianz Arena. But that’s no excuse. Bayern Munich played both games without Mané, their main striker, and won yesterday with a goal by Choupo-Moting, a Cameroonian who was PSG’s bench between 2018 and 2020.

A basic and capital mistake

What weighs more is the difficulty for the French club to create a strong team in collective terms, largely due to the constant changes of coaches. Since he became a billionaire, he has been in charge of the French team six times.

This gets in the way, but it is not decisive – Real Madrid had eight coach changes and five European titles in the same period. What PSG never had in these 11 seasons was a first-class midfielder.

This Wednesday, he faced Bayern with Verratti, Fabián Ruiz and Vitinha in the middle. He spent 400 million euros on Neymar and Mbappé, but the most he invested in a midfielder was 42 million euros on Argentine Pastore, still in 2011.

The midfield is the heart of a team, since football is football. Real Madrid established hegemony even with changes in defense and attack. The only thing that remained intact was the midfield formed by Casemiro, Kroos and Modric.

Bayern was champion with Kimmich as one of the stars of the team. Chelsea lifted the cup with Frenchman Kanté in great form.