Eleven failures in the Champions League and eleven excuses from Al-Khelaifi to the emir of PSG

Although it's hard to believe, there are days when it's not a good day to be billionaire

The president of PSG has seen his umpteenth attempt to win the Champions League fail at the Allianz Arena, and now he has to explain it to the emir of Qatar,

.

In October 2011, the emirate put PSG in charge of the son of a pearl fisherman from Doha who had tried to make a career in tennis.

At that time, Spain was still ruled by Zapatero, and the Iphone was on the cuatro, without us fearing that the gas from the Qatari subsoil was beginning to transform into footballers, coaches and sports directors with the aim of establishing a football dictatorship in Europe.

Eleven years later, we can confirm that your biggest investment is being in excuses.

1.

"

.

Nothing is further from reality.

Waiting for what happens this season, the team that eliminates PSG has only won the Champions League four times, and one was its final in 2020. It is said that man is the only animal capable of tripping twice in the same stone, but PSG has been able to stumble on different stones twice, and even a few more.

Barça took him ahead three times;

two Bayern, Real Madrid and City;

and one United and Chelsea.

Bayern players celebrating the victory against PSG.RONALD WITTEKEFE

2. "You have to grow little by little to get past the round of 16"

.

Although it is true that the team came to play the final of the pandemic, and even a semifinal, the truth is that the round of 16 has become their ceiling on up to five occasions.

But far from seeing progress, the team seems to be going backwards, falling in winter the last two years, just after the group stage, and this year also qualifying as second behind the unambitious Portuguese

.

3. "The referee has stolen from us."

Up to two times Nasser Al-Khelaïfi had to sit down before the emir of Qatar and tell him that his team has not won the Champions League because of the referee.

In the 16/17 season, in the 6-1 loss at the Camp Nou, the team was the victim of more than suspicious plays, which still failed to eclipse the fact that the team had conceded three goals in seven minutes.

"You can't help but think that the result could have been different with more prescient refereeing. (...) Everyone saw the penalty on

that could have allowed us to make it 3-2 and definitely end all the suspense. Without forgetting that there was no penalty on

, "the PSG president said then.

A crack that is nothing compared to what happened last season at the Bernabéu.

Then his complaint was an alleged foul by

on the Italian

in 1-1 against Real Madrid, which marked the beginning of the comeback.

According to the Dutch referee's report, both Al-Khelaïfi and the former sports director,

, tried to beat and shout into his locker room, broke an assistant's pennant, and threatened to kill an employee of the white club.

4. "You have to throw out the coach

. "

His first serious attempt to reach the Champions League came in 2012 at the hands of

, who would fall in the fourth against Barça, drawing their two games.

The Italian wanted to go to Madrid and Al-Khelaïfi did not take it well.

"I did not receive the correct attitude because I wanted to leave and the club wanted me to continue. We had a few small problems. It was a difficult moment and the relationship with Nasser became complicated," Ancelotti revealed years later in Le

.

His replacement was

, so far the longest-serving coach of the Al-Khelaïfi era.

Nothing less than 1093 days.

After leaving office he became deputy executive director and right-hand man for Nasser, but has decided to leave him this December after twelve years on the club's staff.

Then

would come , to whom Nasser would ask, "at least the semifinals", but in two seasons what he gave him was again the eighths.

Next up was

, who made it to the pandemic final in Lisbon, but whose prize was becoming the only coach of the Al-Khelaïfi era not to finish the season.

He left in December with the third team in Ligue 1, and the worst thing is that Tuchel went to Chelsea and won the Champions League.

Next up was

, who lasted a season and a half.

Barely 549 days, but more than the 247 that

has, who is on his way to becoming the shortest of the Al-Khelaïfi era, for whom it seems that coaches last less and less, and who has spent 39 million euros to compensate them.

Those who arrive are as famous as those who have been about to arrive,

and

had their moment, as

has it now, and it is even said that he has already asked for

to be brought from Barça .

Messi after conceding a goal on Wednesday at the Allianz.RONALD WITTEKEFE

5. "We have signed wrong"

.

It is true that Al-Khelaïfi has spent 1,500 million euros on the best players in the world, but also on the worst, all known from the Spanish League.

For

, sponsored by

, he paid 30 million euros to Benfica to end up ceding it to Valencia.

For 27 million he took the former Sevilla player

, who only played 19 games and was decided twice.

And for 25 to former Madrid player

, who is considered the worst signing in the history of PSG.

6.

was the jewel of the emirate of Qatar.

A dream that seemed impossible for any club since Barça would never let him escape.

However, two years later, the Argentine has barely come close to winning the Champions League again.

This year, moreover, much more focused on the World Cup, which will not have mattered too much to the emir.

The problem is that it is not yet known if there will be a third attempt, and that if there is, there is very little chance that his performance will be better when he turns 36 this June.

7. "We need the one who will be the best player in the world."

Twice Al-Khelaifi has made a bet on the future.

To plant in the middle of the Parc des Princes in Paris a planetary star around which the rest of the satellites would revolve.

Twice he made what are still the two most expensive signings in history.

He brought

from Barça for 222 million euros and

from Monaco for 145. The former has just turned 31 and has been touched, or simply not, in all the big events for his team in Europe, the last Wednesday's at the Allianz.

Retaining Mbappé has been the soap opera of the summer since he arrived at the club almost six years ago.

That he would continue at PSG this season seemed impossible, since he had done it with Madrid, just as it seemed impossible that he would leave the next.

However, as soon as the game in Munich finished, the journalists asked him about his future and he no longer takes anything for granted: "The only thing that matters to me is this league, this season and then we'll see."

Madrid is still on the lookout.

Neymar with crutches in the stands of the Parc des Princes. FRANCK FIFEAFP

8. "You have to strengthen the defense."

It could be believed that one of PSG's mistakes these years has consisted of reinforcing the attack and neglecting the defense, but the truth is that as soon as he took over the club, the emir's big outlays were defensive: 82 million for Lucas Moura

Thiago

, or 50 by

.

This season 50 million has been spent on two right-backs.

And that after spending the previous year 68 on another,

the most expensive signing of last season, when

also arrived .

9. "You have to reinforce the goal."

More than signings, the thing about the PSG goalkeepers seems like an economic investment or a joke.

17 in eleven seasons.

None of that of having goalkeepers who mark an era.

Since Al-Khelaïfi's arrival at the club, this has been the list of goalkeepers signed or loaned:

Gianluigi Donnarumma, the last tenant of the PSG goal. CHRISTOF STACHEAFP

10. "We have to change the sports director."

Leonardo Araujo became sports director of PSG as soon as Al-Khelaïfi arrived, but he left it after two years.

He would return in 2019 but left him again in June due to his bad relationship with the president.

Now the Portuguese Luis Campos has arrived, who for the moment has only gone down in history for facing the squad in full locker room after accusing them of poor performance.

11. "Financial fair-play hurts us."

PSG is one of the European clubs that faces a sanction by UEFA for breaching the Financial Fair Play, but the truth is that it has never been sanctioned.

Right now its deficit is 62 million euros, but it is expected that in the next three years UEFA will open its hand with the percentage of spending with respect to income.

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