When Juan Bernat scored the third and final goal for Paris Saint-Germain against RB Leipzig, they booked their place in the Champions League final. There was not going to be a miraculous comeback from their beaten German opponents. If there was, then that would surely beat the miracles of Anfield and Amsterdam performed by Liverpool and Tottenham last season.
But, the French champions reaching the final of club football’s most prestigious tournament should not be considered an achievement. It only highlights the failure of their recent success in the competition.
Paris Saint-Germain Reaching the Champions League Final is Not an Achievement
Squad Built for the Tournament
Thomas Tuchel enters each Champions League knockout game knowing it could be his last. If they had lost to RB Leipzig, the German would have already been sacked by now.
PSG have a squad built for the sole aim of winning the Champions League. As another year goes by where they don’t win it, they know they are failing.
In many respects, they start the Ligue 1 season each year knowing that they should win it at a canter. If they don’t, and that has become a rare occasion over the past decade, then they poach the players from the club who beat them.
The squad that has been put together over the second half of the last decade is one that should be winning the Champions League. Neymar and Kylian Mbappe have not just joined to win a domestic treble every season – they have joined knowing they will make PSG stronger in the Champions League.
Arguably, though, they haven’t. Up until this season, they have crumbled under the pressure. Before this season, they hadn’t made it beyond the quarter-final stages since Qatari Sports Investments purchased the club in 2011. That is a humiliating record for a club whose sole purpose in recent years has been to win the competition.
Weakest Champions League in Recent Memory?
Every big European club, with the exception of a small group, seem to have their own struggles at the minute.
Juventus showed their displeasure of not winning the Champions League by sacking Maurizio Sarri and replacing him with Andrea Pirlo. However, nobody knows how the former Juventus midfielder will do as a manager, meaning expectations are considerably lower.
Barcelona were humiliated on the pitch by Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals. The Catalan giants have sunk to the lowest point in their history, and huge changes are expected on and off the pitch over the next few years.
Madrid rivals Real and Atletico are both fighting their own battles. Real Madrid know that winning La Liga is not enough and that they must build on that next season. Diego Simeone’s time in charge of Atletico also looks to be heading toward breaking point.
The English clubs, albeit with the exception of Liverpool, are fighting their own battles. Manchester United and Chelsea are still in transition, operating under the guidance of club legends. Neither club will be challenging for the Champions League next season.
Manchester City are battling against Pep Guardiola’s inability to overcome the latter stages of the Champions League. It appears that there is a mental blockade obstructing the Spaniard going further in the tournament.
As a result, it is no wonder that PSG have made it to the final this year. They are the only club without major issues, and they live to target the Champions League trophy year.
They have benefited from being on the more ‘favourable’ side of the draw in the knockout stages. The French champions have more than enough quality to defeat the likes of Atalanta and Leipzig, yet they still struggled against the former.
If PSG did not make the latter stages of the Champions League this season, questions would have been asked if they would ever do so. Every minor detail seems to have gone in their favour, and they have now taken advantage of that.
Les Parisiens have become the antithesis of every football fan, yet it is just another reality of modern football. They aren’t a success story, they are only a story of how money can lead you to the top.
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