With Ligue 1 yet again looking like another walk in the park for Paris Saint-Germain, the question has arisen once more: can they win the Champions League?
PSG and the Champions League are Incompatible
Yes, it’s early in the season. Sure, they’ve only played seven league games. Of course, Liverpool are their toughest Champions League group stage competitors. And yes, such a statement is pretty uncompromising, but PSG’s inability to perform well in the Champions League isn’t just a fluke. Somehow, it’s ingrained into the club’s DNA.
Recent European Campaigns
Despite only being formed in 1970, PSG are the most successful French football club in terms of trophies, with 38. With limited European experience throughout the 80’s and 90’s, and little French precedent to follow (Marseille’s 1992/93 Champions League victory being the only major European competition won by a French team), the modern-day PSG don’t have an awful lot of pedigree to call upon.
When Qatar Sports Investments took over in 2011, the Champions League became their main ambition. Despite domestic dominance, their European efforts are yet to prove anything near fruitful.
In their first season under new ownership, PSG were dumped out at the group stage of the Europa League. Athletic Bilbao and Red Bull Salzburg pipped them to the post. From the next season on, their Champions League odyssey began.
Qualifying for every knock-out stage since 2012/13, their record has been uninspiring. P20, W7, D6, L7, F33, A33. Bang average wouldn’t go amiss as a description. In those six consecutive campaigns, they reached the quarter-final in the first four, but have gone out at the Round of 16 in each of the last two seasons.
Last season, a miserable 3-1 and then 2-1 defeat to Real Madrid sent Les Parisiens out with a whimper. The season before, an awe-inspiring performance from Barcelona saw the Catalan giants win 6-1, overturning a 4-0 defeat at the Parc des Princes.
In the eight quarter-final games played against Manchester City, Barcelona and Chelsea, PSG have only managed to register just one victory, scoring nine goals; measly for a club who, over the past four Ligue 1 seasons, have averaged around 2.5 goals per game.
The Ligue 1 Conundrum
Since winning their first title under new ownership, they have won five of the last six Ligue 1 titles. Add that to four Coupes de France, five Coupes de la Ligue and all six Trophées des Champions, and you have yourself a juggernaut.
So far, PSG have registered seven wins out of seven in the league, scoring three in four of those, and four in the other three. However, they have conceded six in seven games. While their defence is consistently best in Ligue 1, this season they are proving that they don’t have to be anything close to watertight to walk the league.
They are conceding goals at a steady rate but, with an attack head and shoulders above the rest of the league, it doesn’t matter. They are already eight points clear, with three points separating second from eleventh below them.
This ability to win everything in sight and to coast through games is the exact reason they haven’t got it in them to progress to the latter rounds of the Champions League. Their relaxed attitude was epitomised in their 3-2 defeat at Anfield, where at 2-0 down they finally realised their progression to the knock out stages may be in jeopardy.
Despite playing badly, they raced to parity, pulling it back to 2-2 with apparent nonchalance. Then, immediately, they returned to complete complacency. Expecting the game to fizzle out as a draw, their zero miles-an-hour tactics allowed Liverpool to snatch a victory. The worst bit? They didn’t even seem to care.
The lack of competition in Ligue 1 has given them the softest of underbellies and instilled in their players a ‘so what, we’re going to win three trophies anyway’ mentality. PSG have the ability to win. What they don’t have is any form of backbone.
What’s Next?
In terms of Ligue 1, the coming months most probably consist of nothing more than stretching their lead. In terms of the Champions League, PSG need to ensure they don’t fall into trouble.
Napoli have won five out of their six opening league games, and Red Star Belgrade, to use a common cliché, will see every game of this group as a cup final. The Serbian side also nicked a point off Napoli in the opening fixture, which will give them plenty of hope.
PSG probably will get through. They are better than both Napoli and Red Star, but from there, who knows? Perhaps they will become only the second ever French club to win a major European trophy. More likely, based on history, and the DNA of the club, they’ll get the push early doors.
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