PSG suffer humiliating exit from Champions League

Latest exit from the Champions League leave PSG once again asking questions with no real answers

“PSG suffers humiliating exit from Champions League.” Stop me if you’ve heard that, or some variation of it, before. With everything in their favor, playing at home, and leading after the first leg, Paris Saint-Germain once again falter when it counts, this time against Manchester United.

Their win at Old Trafford appeared to signify that PSG finally understood how to play in this competition. With Thomas Tuchel at the helm, things looked to be different. For all intents and purposes, that game away to United looked to be a statement game that this was a new PSG. But all that went flying out the window. All that became irrelevant when they conceded a late, and controversial, penalty to gift Manchester United the tie.

This latest defeat added another chapter to their book of humiliating eliminations from the Champions League. Debatable as to whether this is worse than the collapse against Barcelona back in 2017 but it’s up there. One could argue that it’s not as bad because they were only up by a goal heading into the game but that it was against this version of Manchester United that ranks it at the top. Manchester United came into the game missing players either through injury or suspension. They were without Paul Pogba, Anthony Martial, Ander Herrera, Jesse Lingard, Juan Mata, Alexis Sanchez, and Nemanja Matic. All those players, bar Sanchez, are starters under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Manchester United were fortunate on some of their goals but PSG had enough to put this game to rest before the handball penalty. They had a handful of counterattacks that they squandered. What’s worse is that United seemed to accept their fate and were nowhere close to scoring a third goal. With no options on the bench, they had to resort to subbing on academy players. There is simply no excuse for PSG. Once again, they “bottled” it.

Where do PSG go from here? What more can they do?

That’s the million, or billion, dollar questions. They already have Neymar and Mbappe. They signed Gigi Buffon because they wanted an experienced keeper for these occasions and he coughed up the rebound that led to Lukaku’s second goal. They have Dani Alves, Thiago Silva, Marquinhos, Verratti, etc. On paper, they have good enough players to make a deep run. Most importantly, they have a manager in Thomas Tuchel that not only is tactically astute but can have the respect of that locker room. So why can’t this team seem to get over the hump?

Perhaps it’s a matter of mentality. Perhaps choking away games in recent memory cause these players to think that what can go wrong will go wrong even with experienced players on the team. Being without Neymar and Cavani would hurt any team but the truth of the matter is they were not needed to beat this Manchester United team and they proved that in the first leg.

Considering Financial Fair Play and the amount of money already spent by ownership, it’s unlikely that they can splash the cash in another attempt to fix their situation. They’ve tried that and that’s what makes these exits even more frustrating and goes to show that throwing money at the problem will help domestically but it’s a whole different story when it comes to the Champions League.

With Real Madrid being knocked out by Ajax, there will be a new European champion crowned. With the field open as it is with no other team the odds-on favorite, it was a golden opportunity for PSG to try to claim that crown. Instead, it’s another embarrassing European night that leaves PSG wondering what more can they do.