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French press blast PSG 'fiasco' after another limp exit

The Local France
The Local France - [email protected]
French press blast PSG 'fiasco' after another limp exit
Photo: AFP

After a feeble performance against Manchester City in the quarter-finals of the Champions League on Tuesday the French press showed little sympathy for big-spending PSG.

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PSG were eliminated at the quarter final stage of the Champions League for the fourth year on the run after a 1-0 defeat to Manchester City on Tuesday night.

This time it wasn't a brave defeat to Barcelona or Chelsea that accounted for their exit from Europe's elite tournament, but a limp showing against Manchester City, hardly one of Europe's top clubs, at least not yet anyway.

While in previous years the French press have been sympathetic towards PSG, realising they were either up against better opposition or that it was all part of building experience as they tried to join Europe's elite clubs.

But on Wednesday morning PSG woke to stinging criticism.

"Ghostly and beaten at City - This PSG did not deserve to go through to the semi-finals," read one article in Le Figaro newspaper.

Another article in the same newspaper labelled the performance a "fiasco" and spoke of the "end of a cycle" with the Qatari owners facing the task of overhauling a team and perhaps a manager who have failed to make any progress in four years.

France's sports newspaper of reference L'Equipe also lamented  the lack of progress over the last four years. "Always the same thing", read the front page of their website on Wednesday morning.

The front page of the newspaper simply said "What a fiasco!"

Other articles were titled "the immense failure" and "PSG -Powerless 4" referring to the fact they have been eliminated for  the fourth consecutive year at the same stage.

 

Many newspapers took aim at Laurent Blanc, the PSG coach after he made a surprising change to his team for the second leg, by switching to a new defensive formation that failed to pay off.

Most held the manager responsible for a "crazy and failed gamble" as Le Parisien newspaper described Blanc's team selection.

 

 

The lack of sympathy for PSG in France can be explained by the fact the club has spent millions on trying to crack the Champions League and become one of the top clubs in Europe.

But they seem as far away as ever, four years into a project that now needs a rethink.

The question now is, what does the future hold?

"The future? We have a season to finish. We have a French Cup semi-final to try to win and a League Cup final to win," Blanc said.

"I know that doesn't have the same flavour, the same excitement as the Champions League but we owe it to ourselves to win them for the club. We are very disappointed but we will have to get over it."

 

 

 

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