PSG have crashed out of the Champions League last 16 stage after their 3-0 aggregate loss against Bayern Munich. On Wednesday, the Bundesliga giants clinched a 2-0 home win thanks to Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and Serge Gnabry to book their place for the quarter-finals alongside Chelsea, Benfica and AC Milan.
For Les Parisiens, it’s the second time in a row their quest for Europe’s showpiece competition ends in the first round of the knockout stages. Speaking as a pundit for CBS Sports, France’s football legend Thierry Henry has questioned PSG’s identity and philosophy and lamented the absence of players PSG fans can relate to.
“What’s the plan? What’s the identity? What’s the philosophy? What are you trying to achieve? I said it so many times that there is a fracture between them and a lot of the whole Paris Saint-Germain fans. They almost kind of like the old Paris Saint-Germain [before the QSI ownership in 2011], which is crazy.“
PSG’s latest European woes may trigger another reconsideration of the club’s broad strategy in the foreseeable future. According to Henry, PSG must focus on signing players that are actually motivated by the Parisian challenge, i.e. players from the proverbial football’s gold mine that is the Greater Paris area. “Do you go back and get young French players from the area of Paris because they grew up idealizing that club? You saw the other day, Coman scored |in the first leg], but he didn’t celebrate. He’s from there.”
GFFN | Bastien Cheval
