LAGOS, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- Shockingly, it’s becoming a norm for the French side to collapse in Europe, but which of their continental losses is the worst?
PSG who have always been on a winning spree, have won almost everything possible under the ownership of Qatari Sports Investments. Since the takeover in 2011, they have bagged eight Ligue 1 titles and six Coupes de France trophies.
But they have yet to win the Champions League regardless of how much more the French club invests.
Each year, the squad becomes more tailored to the cause. When PSG weren’t good enough going forward, they signed Kylian Mbappe and Neymar.
Although, when they weren’t solid defensively, they hired the pragmatic Thomas Tuchel. Then, two years later, for good measure, they signed the best player of all time, Lionel Messi – just in case.
For all of those hirings and firings, those tweaks and transfers, the Parisians still haven’t claimed Europe’s biggest prize. Instead, they’ve developed something of a penchant for failing in the most dramatic way possible.
On the long run, the knockout ties tend to start with significant first-leg victories, only for them to end with late collapses as PSG fail to put away opponents and surrender their leads.
PSG were short of their best on the night, and very few teams could even hope to compete with a Barca team that went onto lift the European Cup that year on the European stage.
They weren’t quite the star-studded side that they are now, but there was still quality all over the pitch. A Thiago Motta-Marco Verratti-Blaise Matuidi midfield trio was frightening, while an in-form Edinson Cavani led the line. Add in the pace of Lucas Moura and Ezequiel Lavezzi on either wing, and the Parisians were a team going places in 2014.
They proved as such when they hosted Chelsea in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final, beating the Blues relatively handily as Javier Pastore’s late goal handed them what appeared to be a near-insurmountable 3-1 lead.
But then, Jose Mourinho happened.
The Portuguese manager got a signature knockout-stage performance out of his players, as Andre Schurrle gave the home side hope in the first half at Stamford Bridge before Demba Ba popped up with four minutes to go to seal an away goals victory and send west London wild.
The late disappointment in Europe is something PSG fans have become accustomed to ever since.