In the biggest match of the season so far, Paris Saint-Germain fell flat on their face in the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 once again.
The scoreline isn’t terrible, a 2-1 loss to Borussia Dortmund, but the way PSG performed left supporters holding stunning and critics with plenty of ammunition to last until the return leg on March 11.
Until then, manager Thomas Tuchel has to figure out how to get the most from Kylian Mbappé and Neymar Jr, who combined for PSG’s only goal of the game in the 75th minute but failed to put Dortmund’s suspect defense under any sort of sustained pressure.
After the match, there was plenty of conversation on Twitter about the result, PSG’s chances in the return leg, Erling Haaland memes, and questions about Tuchel’s tactics.
PSG has ZERO chance in the 2nd leg, don’t even kid yourselves. It’s not worth the mental energy. #BVBPSG
— Marc Damon (@MarcDamon1) February 18, 2020
FT: Dortmund 2-1 PSG
PSG are in danger of being eliminated at this stage for the 4th straight season. pic.twitter.com/yaprHibMPd
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) February 18, 2020
Tuchel has had the easiest KO fixtures of ANY PSG manager in the last decade.
He has no excuse. BVB didn’t even have Reus & Brandt tonight.
The teams Blanc lost to (away goals in almost all) were better than PSG bar City. Emery too. Tuchel is getting dunked on by teenagers.
— Mourad (@Cerebrone) February 18, 2020
Thomas Tuchel spends 3-4 months developing a 4-4-2 shape only to abandon it tonight & resort to a shape that saw Verratti & Gueye positionally confused & Neymar trying to play quarterback with fiddly aerial through balls to nobody in particular as the only outlet going forward.
— Get French Football News (@GFFN) February 18, 2020
Funny thing is if it isn’t for that one moment of brilliance from Haaland we’re talking about how despite not playing our best we did exactly what we needed to do in Dortmund. We picked up an away goal and didn’t let them explode for 3+. If it’s 1-1 narrative is totally different
— Larry Walker is a Hall of Famer (@GatorBait_Ethan) February 18, 2020
Reyna carved the PSG backline then went to the lockers to finish his homework. pic.twitter.com/BcsOoCe37a
— JCJ (@its_jcj) February 18, 2020
PSG when Haaland is running at them #BVBPSG pic.twitter.com/HdOYTtTCTC
— tommy1211 (@wehaveagronk) February 18, 2020
PSG manager Tuchel citing how many games less BVB have played in 2020 compared to PSG as an excuse for the loss today. Nasser didn't cook the FFP books for this sh*t! #BVBPSG
— M•A•J (@Ultra_Suristic) February 18, 2020
brandt and reus coming back next leg to end psg’s career pic.twitter.com/AUJyAIhaMf
— alexiaaa (@sanchosbrandt) February 18, 2020
Erling #Haaland | Dortmund VS PSG | Incredible performance | Ivan Drago Rocky IV | #BVBPSG pic.twitter.com/ipiBSm0Ab8
— S (@_s_soooo) February 18, 2020
This always happens! Everytime we play on champions it’s like we forgot how to play
— PatoSG (@Patoandrade_) February 18, 2020
I don’t understand why Mbappe disappeared in this game.
And it’s not the end. We will win at home at Parc des Princes.— Noza (@kmlv94) February 18, 2020
This is the greatest PSG squad in history. NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!! 😡😡😡
— Kirk Junior (@KirkJunior5) February 18, 2020
PSG’s recent form sums up today perfectly. A sloppy lackluster performance. With that being said, we have an away goal and are only down 2-1 heading back to Paris. All in all very disappointing result though. @PSGTalk
— Thomas Lash (@tlash20) February 18, 2020
Tuchel decided to “play it safe” probably considering he had too many players coming back from injury and thinking about Borussia’s attacking transitions, one of the best in Europe. Unfortuntely the team looked a bit lost and Neymar wasn’t having a great night.
— Ofthedoor (@Ofthedoor1) February 18, 2020
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