The sky is blue and Paris Saint-Germain have drawn FC Barcelona in the Round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League. Some things never change.
For the third time in five years, PSG will face the Catalan giants in the European competition and Unai Emery and his team will be under no illusions as to what to expect. It was the worst possible draw for the reigning French champions but with Arsenal drawing Bayern Munich, there was no place to hide.
The immediate reactions to the draw from most of Europe, as well as PSG supporters, suggest how insurmountable the task of getting past “MSN” (Messi, Suarez, and Neymar) will be. This isn’t what Qatar Sports Investments would have expected back in 2012, when a valiant Paris side nearly pushed Barcelona out of the Champions League only to be denied on away goals. This impressive feat came when the QSI project was in its infancy and the squad was full of belief. If this current team can recapture that belief, it’s not unthinkable to think they can come away with the upset.
If you consider PSG’s impressive 3-2 victory against Barca at the Parc des Princes just two seasons ago, it only magnifies how unfortunate it is that PSG don’t look like a side that can better their previous feats against the same team. A huge chunk of the blame for this can be attributed to poor management decisions by the club, which has seen what once looked like a very promising project to one that has stalled for the most part in recent years.
There’s hardly any point complaining about the draw at this point. For a team like Paris, who have set the goal of reaching the semifinals of the Champions League, they were always going to have to prove themselves against a world class side. In my opinion, the earlier the club is tested, the better.
The continuous exits at the quarterfinal stage have masked some of the club’s underlying problems. Since the departure of former sporting director, Leonardo, after the 2013 summer transfer window, the club’s management appears to have lost the plot of the project the club has been trying to build to an extent.
This was further highlighted last summer with the clear lack of proper planning with the foreknowledge of Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s departure, which meant that PSG ended up settling to take a chance on the likes of Hatem Ben Arfa and Jesé Rodriguez to contribute to the attack, a move which hasn’t paid dividends so far.
A potential early exit from the Champions League this term could be a real eye-opener for the club’s leaders to sit down and properly evaluate the project. The truth is, things don’t look good for PSG right now and the news of the draw couldn’t have been more poorly timed as the team has gone winless in their last three games.
Indeed, a lot can change for both PSG and Barcelona between now and kickoff for the first game of the tie in February. Either way, I believe in Unai Emery’s tactical nous, which has come to the fore in certain games this season, and his familiarity with the Catalans could make things difficult for Luis Enrique’s team even if they end up winning the tie on aggregate.
The January transfer window, which director of football Patrick Kluivert has suggested PSG will be very active in, could affect the way the tie pans out. It will take something special from the players to defeat Barcelona but as fans, all we can do is hope for the best despite the uphill battle.
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