PSG’s Champions League project fails for yet another year
Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and Serge Gnabry scored goals in the second half to give Bayern Munich a 2-0 victory and secure their position in the Champions League quarterfinals. This victory terminated Paris Saint-most Germain's recent effort to capture their first European Cup. For the best sports betting casinos of March 2023, make sure you visit the rest of our pages.
PSG were eliminated 3-0 on aggregate after losing the first leg 1-0 in Paris. PSG lost to Bayern in Lisbon, Portugal, in their lone Champions League final appearance to date in 2020. Given that several senior players have contracts expiring at the end of the season, the setback is now expected to cause significant upheaval at Parc des Princes.
Project PSG fails once more as Bayern demonstrate their lineage
This summer, Paris Saint-Germain will undergo significant changes as a result of their expensively assembled team's continued failure to win the Champions League. The French champions had the misfortune of being drawn with another Champions League heavyweight in Bayern Munich at the same level this time around, and it was a case of the same old tale after they were ousted by Real Madrid in the round of 16 last season.
All PSG's Qatari owners have to show for their enormous investment in the team in continental play is one last outing. As a result, the strategy of spending heavily to acquire superstars like Lionel Messi, Neymar, Kylian Mbappe, and Sergio Ramos has fallen short of bringing home the highest trophy in club football.
Both Messi and Ramos have expiring contracts this summer, and neither performed well enough against Munich to merit a new contract, while Mbappe fell short of the monumental performance that a player of his stature is expected to put on. This defeat feels significant in PSG's relatively brief history, especially with Neymar sidelined for the remainder of the season due to an ankle injury.
Do the owners stick to their high-spending strategy or start over from scratch? Now that PSG has experienced yet another early elimination from the Champions League, they have plenty of time to provide an answer.
Certain teams, like Manchester City, are unable to win the competition no matter how much money they spend, but teams like Bayern and Real possess the key component that guarantees ongoing success. Before taking over this game, Bayern had to withstand a PSG uprising, but once Choupo-Moting gave them the lead after 60 minutes, the tie was sealed.
Bayern easily defeated PSG's all-star team because they couldn't live up to the hype. Even though this Bayern team isn't a classic, no one will want to play them in the finals because they know how to prevail in this competition. not PSG.
This contest may have been the one in which Messi lost all hope of winning the Champions League again. The PSG forward's contract at Parc des Princes expires this summer; if clubs in Saudi Arabia and the MLS are successful in convincing him to seek a new challenge, he may not even be playing in Europe by the time the 2024 final rolls around.
Messi no longer has anything to prove in the game because he already has four Champions League championship rings with Barcelona and he famously won the World Cup with Argentina in Qatar this past December. While he joined PSG in 2021 with the goal of aiding the French team win their first Champions League, they were eliminated in the round of 16 for the second straight season.
But what stood out against Bayern in both matches was how little Messi was able to offer when it mattered most. The Champions League's knockout stages represent the peak of the competition in terms of quality, and they are so much better than the World Cup.
Simply said, across two legs, Messi has been unable to lay a glove on Bayern. He is no longer the unstoppable force he was when he was younger, but in Qatar, he overcame that.
Yet, this is a different level, and Bayern made him appear unremarkable. The reality may lead Messi to decide to leave this summer before he finds it even harder the next campaign.
There was a ton of skill on the Allianz Arena field for this game, but Jamal Musiala of Bayern shone the brightest. The 20-year-old came forward with speed and purpose, and PSG had no response for him. Only his colleagues' subpar goal-scoring prevented Musiala from having the chance to win the match.
The team of Julian Nagelsmann needs someone else to step up and help Musiala take the load as Bayern enters the quarterfinals knowing they have a player in Musiala who can worry any of the favorites on the path to the final in Istanbul.
That might be Leroy Sane or Sadio Mane, who came on as a late replacement for Musiala. Gnabry and Kingsley Coman are examples of players who can win games. As for the center-backs, Dayot Upamecano and Matthijs de Ligt are still capable of playing up to the anticipation that surrounded their individual successes in recent seasons. In midfield, Leon Goretzka's muscle and enthusiasm aid Thomas Muller in getting through games.
Yet, only Musiala appears to be the caliber of player that Bayern used to have in plenty. Although he is the one who gives Nagelsmann's team its drive, expecting him to lead Bayern to Champions League success alone would be asking too much.
