The keys to Paris Saint-Germain's Champions League collapse
The French side lacked leadership against Madrid
Unai Emery is likely to lose his job as a result
Paris Saint-Germain's endured their umpteenth Champions League failure on Tuesday. The Qatari project stalled at the worst possible moment, against Real Madrid, and what is worse is the sensation that at no time were they able to compete acorss the two legs.
The second leg at the Parc des Princes evidenced the impotence of a side that don't behave like a team, but like a group of individuals, despite the message prepared by the supporters before the game: 'Together we will achieve it.'
ATTACK IN CHAOS
PSG's attack was in chaos throughout the game. Di Maria didn't take advantage of the spaces nor use his pace, Cavani was frustrated from the first minute and Mbappe wasn't able to get going.
Errors In defenCE
Madrid got to PSG's area too easily. Areola, in fact, was his teams best player in goal. With a little more luck, Madrid would have scored even more. Thiago Silva didn't lead and the full-backs suffered. Dani Alves' error gave Los Blancos the second goal.
NO RHYTHM IN THE MIDDLE
Rabiot, Verratti and Motta: PSG's midfield combines touch, muscle, creativity and possession... in theory. When it came to the moment of truth, they didn't perform. They didn't have any rhythm on the ball and they weren't able to put the brakes on Madrid's attacks. Casemiro and Kovacic, two players with a defensive profile, got the better of them. Motta disappeared, Rabiot was impotent and Verratti was sent off.
NO LEADERS
PSG lack a leader. With Neymar missing through injury, the French side didn't have a reference at the key moments. Verratti was dismissed before they equalised (20 minutes from time) and is one of the players to take the blame for their elimination. And Thiago Silva?
EMERY
Unai Emery comes out of the tie with the most damage. His changed in the first leg and the second leg are questionable. Draxler and Pastore came on like ghosts, completely disconnected. Beyond the changes, Emery has shown that he's not been capable of managing the club's resources. It seems certain he will leave at the end of the season. The French press are already looking for replacements.
ATMOSPHERE
PSG tried to surroun the game with an atmosphere which would serve their needs: banners, tension, noise, flares... However, it didn't so much help as hinder them in the end. The flares saw the game held up several times. In fact, Thiago Silva had to remove some from the pitch and the game took a while to get started again after the equaliser because of more flares.
WEIGHT OF HISTORY
Founded in 1970, PSG lack the history of Europe's other big sides. The European Cup was created in 1856 and since then very few clubs have sat on the throne. All the champions have years of history behind them in their favour, something that PSG still don't have.
