Turnovers of Real or Barcelona. The three most bitter PSG eliminations from the Champions League

When the Qatari owners entered PSG, they set a clear goal. To win the Champions League. But since 2011, when Qatar Sports Investments took over the Parisian outfit, the thirst for a trophy has remained unquenched. And they’ve had to endure several bitter relegations.

2021/22 – Real Madrid

Let’s start with the most recent one. Last season, PSG faced Real Madrid, currently arch enemy number 1, in the eighth round. The president of Los Blancos, Florentino Pérez, tried to drag Kylian Mbappé out of Paris at any cost, and PSG made a move for two long-time captains of Real Madrid and Barcelona, Sergio Ramos and Lionel Messi.

Relations between the leaders were at a standstill and there was already a huge rivalry before the game. In the first duel at the Parc des Princes, Messi gave away a penalty, but Mbappé scored in the last minute to give PSG the advantage.

In the rematch, Real pressed, but the Parisians held on and Mbappé added a second goal. With 30 minutes to go, PSG led by two goals and had one foot in the quarter-finals. But then Karim Benzema was born, scoring a hat-trick in 17 minutes to see the French out of the competition.

Things boiled over at PSG, a pissed off sporting director Leonardo stormed into the referee’s booth to complain, Messi and Neymar were booed by PSG fans in the following games, director Leonardo and coach Mauricio Pochettino were sacked in the summer.

2016/17 – Barcelona

Another memorable turnaround where PSG had it all in their hands. Cavani and co. won the first leg at the Parc des Princes after a stunning 4-0 performance and could have easily added more goals, but Barcelona only had one shot on target in the whole game.

However, in the rematch, there was a huge collapse. PSG came to Camp Nou only to defend a rich lead and it didn’t pay off. First Luis Suárez scored, then Kurzawa scored his own. Messi converted a penalty in the 50th minute, only for Cavani to reduce it to 1: 3 in the 62nd minute and it seemed to be done.

The Catalans needed to score three more goals to advance. PSG lost their concentration again and they were in trouble. Neymar’s two goals in the 88th and 90th minutes gave hope, and Sergi Roberto made the difference in the 95th minute.

2018/19 – Manchester United

Manchester United were responsible for another embarrassing elimination of PSG. The then-struggling team that took over from José Mourinho’s Ole Gunnar Solskjaer should have had no chance against a star-studded PSG in the eighth-finals.

This was confirmed in the first match at Old Trafford, when PSG won 2-0 after goals from Kimpembe and Mbappe. In the 89th minute, Paul Pogba was shown a red card and United went into the rematch shorthanded.

Manchester United’s line-up for the rematch was extremely weak on paper. Eric Bailly at right-back, Chris Smalling and Victor Lindelof were the stoppers, Ashley Young and Andreas Pereira played the fringe midfielders, Scott McTominay and Fred started in the middle of the park. Marcus Rashford, who hadn’t scored for over a month at that point, came on alongside Lukaku.

In addition, the bench was made up of Greenwood, Gomes, Chong, Garner, Dalot and Rojo. Still, Lukaku gave hope in the second minute with a goal, but it was cooled down ten minutes later by Juan Bernat and it was 1-1.

In the 30th minute, however, Lukaku scored for the second time and United were back in the game. In the 94th minute, from 25 yards out, Dalot slapped the ball senselessly, more out of desperation, the shot would have done nothing to threaten the goal, hit Kimpembe in the hand and it was a penalty. Rashford took that one and saw off a star-studded PSG side in the eighth round.

Source: UEFA