Back on these packages which have cost the capital club dearly in the Champions League in recent years.
Bad luck for Paris, again and again. PSG will indeed very likely compose without Kylian Mbappé, out “about three weeks”, and certainly without Angel Di Maria, suspended, on August 12, when facing Atalanta Bergamo, on August 12, in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. Packages of major players before the big meetings? A habit in the capital. Memories.
2013: Barça without Motta on the first leg, Matuidi on the return
Eight years after its last participation, PSG returned to C1 in 2012-13, for Year II of the Qatari project. After dismissing Valencia (1-1, 2-1) in the 8th, Carlo Ancelotti’s players challenge Barça in the quarter-finals. Embarrassed by various glitches throughout the season, metronome Thiago Motta once believed he could hold his place on the go, or at least be on the bench. Missed. Paris will nevertheless achieve a high-level match on its lawn, hanging on the Catalans thanks to a saving goal signed Blaise Matuidi after stoppage of play (2-2). Which Matuidi must give up on the return match due to suspension. Motta is present at Camp Nou. Problem? Leo Messi too. Substitute at kick-off, he comes into action in the second half, while the Parisians lead 1-0 thanks to Javier Pastore. Alas, on an acceleration of the Pulga, the Parisian defense explodes and Pedro equalizes. The goal of qualification (1-1 final score). PSG come out with the honors, without losing.
2014: injured on the first leg, Zlatan absent at Stamford Bridge
After a stroll against Leverkusen (4-0, 2-1), Laurent Blanc’s men attack Chelsea in the quarterfinals. On the first leg, Paris wins (3-1)… but loses Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The Swedish giant will witness the defeat and elimination of his family (2-0) in street clothes, with Demba Ba as the executioner.
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2015: avalanche of packages against Barça
If they had held the dragee high in Barcelona in 2013, the Parisians did not support the comparison. Two defeats (1-3 at the Park, 0-2 at Camp Nou), no hope. It must be said that Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Marco Verratti, Serge Aurier (suspended) and Thiago Motta (injury) were missing in the first leg. The return of the first two named on the return did not change much to the case and Neymar – author of the two Spanish goals – and company made short work of a too short PSG. A world of variation. Injured during the first leg, Thiago Silva missed the return.
2016: between absent and returning, Blanc leaves his hat 3-5-2 against City
As in 2013, 2014 and 2015, the PSG stops in quarterfinals of the C1, this time against a team of Man. City which was nevertheless within his reach. And like in previous years, Paris had to deal with an impressive list of packages. On the first leg, “Ibra” and others concede a draw (2-2) without Javier Pastore and Marco Verratti. On the way back, the “Little Owl” is still not there, and David Luiz and Blaise Matuidi are suspended. Laurent Blanc’s response? A surprising 3-5-2. Stroke of genius ? Blow for nothing. The Parisians lose 1-0 and the former national coach will return his apron at the end of the season, despite … a rich and recent extension. Serge Aurier? Discarded following the Periscope affair, it is imposed by management and aligned from the start for the two matches. It was not a clear success. Not on the way there, even less on the way back. “Between catastrophic and cataclysmic,” judged our special envoy to Manchester, Vincent Duchesne. Motta came out injured in the second leg.
2017: Motta, only one being you miss …
The remounted. A word that is enough to give a cold sweat to any Parisian supporter. Even if the elimination against MU, in 2019, is even harder to swallow … Still, the PSG has one of the best matches in its history in the first leg, a recital. 4-0 victory. Travel to Catalonia should therefore only be a formality. The rest, we know it. Barça punishes Paris (6-1) with a stratospheric Neymar, and a goal from Sergi Roberto at the end of added time. Motta had to give up this meeting due to injury. Admittedly, the Italian international was already forfeited in the first leg, and it was with the same trio (Verratti, Matuidi, Rabiot) that Unai Emery started on the return. But we can imagine that the character of the Italian international, his ability to reassure, control and… put the sole, would have made it possible to extinguish the fire. Or at least to limit breakage. Especially since Rabiot suffered … from a lung infection. Note that Di Maria, uncertain before the return, was a substitute at kick-off.
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2018 and 2019: Neymar stuck in the infirmary and Paris, in 8th
Neymar in Paris, it is the dream of the Qataris which takes shape from the summer of 2017. At the table of the great. Finally, the club of the capital must manage to make its way to the peaks of Europe. The most expensive man on the planet (222 M € to snatch him from Barça in the summer of 2017) still has to be on the ground… This was the case in the round of 16 first leg, in 2017, against Real Madrid. Loss 3-1. Not on the way back. Between the two, the Brazilian genius injured his ankle, facing OM. Without him, the Red and Blue bow without a fight (defeat 1-2). Almost a year later to the day, his ankle gives way again, before the double-confrontation against Manchester United. At Old Trafford, Thomas Tuchel, who took over from Unai Emery, also has to do without injured Edinson Cavani. Never mind, his players achieve an almost perfect match (2-0 victory). Quite the opposite of the second round, still without “Ney” and the Matador. Although, the latter entered in the last minutes, in desperation. And in vain. Paris will lose 1-3 and will come out of the round of 16 of the “Champions” for the third consecutive year. Except this time, in view of the opposition, the present are more to blame than the absent. It is indeed the B team of MU which released Paris. Unforgivable.
2020: Mbappé and Di Maria out against Atalanta
This year, it is therefore without Kylian Mbappé and Angel Di Maria that the Parisians will have to try to pass the quarterfinal mark, even if there remains a tiny hope of seeing the name of the first mentioned on the scoresheet on August 12. Not to be the holder, but at least on the bench, just to keep the possibility of bringing him in at the end, if necessary. Still, with two of his “fantastic four” out of the race, and Edinson Cavani far from Paris, Tuchel will probably have to put his 4-4-2 in the closet and line up an attacking trio made up of Neymar, Mauro Icardi and Pablo Sarabia . Unless there is a surprise, with Julian Draxler and / or Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting in the eleven against the current third in the Serie A standings. In any case, a PSG without Mbappé and Di Maria is necessarily less strong. And in the event of a setback on August 12, we cannot help but think that the situation could have been different if the football gods had been more lenient, and if this avalanche of pips had stopped.
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