PSG crashed out of the Champions League last week, meaning they will miss out on the biggest prize in European football yet again despite assembling a squad of star-studded players. French football expert Tom Williams joined Mark Chapman to discuss why the club’s footballing and marketing decisions have got in the way of each other…
Check out the rest of this episode and The Athletic Football Podcast five times a week this season…
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-athletic-football-podcast/id1488521447
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/69AAB4ojTuK7gwy3ZdQdB9?si=bpegkIl8TNCvQmoj1DBgCA
Subscribe to The Athletic UK channel ๐ http://bit.ly/athleticuk | ๐Make sure to enable all push notifications!๐
The Athletic is currently offering a special price subscription of ยฃ2/$2 a month for the first 12 months. To redeem that limited-time-only offer go to ๐ https://theathletic.com/footballpod
Follow The Athletic UK:
Follow The Athletic UK:
Website ๐ https://theathletic.com
Twitter ๐ https://twitter.com/TheAthleticfc
Instagram ๐ https://www.instagram.com/theathleticfc
Facebook ๐ https://www.facebook.com/TheAthleticfc
Follow Tifo Football:
Website ๐ http://tifofootball.com
Twitter ๐ https://twitter.com/TifoFootball_
Facebook ๐ http://facebook.com/TifoFootball
Instagram ๐ http://instagram.com/TifoFootball_
Subscribe to Tifo Football ๐ http://bit.ly/TifoFootball
#psg #messi #theathletic

18 Comments
Never knew I needed to hear Moby's opinion on this
Nope they didn't, Messi is my goat so it would be hypocritical of me to say he's improved psg that much because that's what I say against ronaldo when he gets his goals but the team doesn't improve, adding him into the mix at this age was a recipe for disaster compared to top European well organised teams where everyone is talented AND works hard, mbappe and Messi and Neymar offer almost 0 in defense
That said the managers should have created a system around Messi rather than mbappe but he has too much power so it will always centre on him
Another reason to hope Qataris don't buy Man United.
To understand PSG you have to stop viewing it as a football club, and acknowledge it for what it is, basically a product for state propaganda for the Qatar government, which also doesn't work because everyone hates PSG even with Mbappรฉ, Messi and Neymar.
Messi not only wasn't necessary (in terms of football), he hinders the team's performance, not because he is bad, but because you already have other 2 players that will not press or defend, having 3 of those in modern football is overkill and Bayern made it very evident.
This is the same reason why Messi wouldn't necessarily be good for Barcelona at the moment, he needs a club where the other 10 players take care of pressing and defending and leave him exclusively to a creative and free role, like the Argentina national team. He is not even a false 9 at the moment nor a winger, he is performing more as a deep lying playmaker, dropping almost to a 6 role (but without defending).
Having Mbappรฉ, Messi and Neymar is not a football decision, it is a statement saying "we will have anything we want." PSG doesn't have a football project, they just have money and will keep pushing it until eventually the win the Champions League, which is very sad and absurd because they have one of the best producers of young talent they won't take advantage of and never play in their "galacticos" style squad, I thought about this when Coman scored against them in the UCL final, and recently in the round of 16.
A team wins a CL….A TEAM…..That z why rich owners do not gurantee success…Other clubs and their fans should learn from this…..Moderate money>> Unlimited money
Messi there is useless, same with Neymar but theyโve got a country backing them and no FFP so all they care about is short sales
Yes.
I feel psg were foolish not to sell mbappe to real madrid when they offered 100m for him. That money could have been used to build a competitive squad
Funny how they have at least two players that don't want to runabout a bit, and they haven't won the Champions League. Laughably broken.
No they did not and also they had to let neymar and mbappe go, all their front three is too problematic and yes, they can make a difference in some games, but in a distance they don t give PSG any advantage. They don t press and everybody has to play on them. It creates toxic atmosphere.
To be honest, i don t reallu see a team who will sign Mpabbe. It will not be Bavaria, or City, or Liverpool, or Chelsea, or Barselona. He is exceptional, but way too problematic and his ego is way too big.
PSG haven't won a UCL tie since 2016. What they did in 2020 & 2021 doesn't count since there were no fans.
What PSG needed is to get Ancelotti before Madrid did. He can go into any group of players and get the best out of them. He also would know what this team needs, and I guess that's a better CDM.
Had PSG just focused on building a youth culture within their club and just added good professionals, they could have been stronger. So many French wonderkids and Ligue top performers that get ignored by PSG only to perform at other clubs outside france
And some United fans (internet) want Qatar to get our club. Ten Hag finally ends player power and they want a PSG circus.
Chelsea are making the same mistakes as PSG all over again as well. When will they learn
PSG are a plastic club that play in a farmers league and can't step up when it comes to the champions league
They definitely didn't need to sign Messi. They could've gotten binned out of the champions league without him ๐
hmm Jose Mourinho in PSG huh. that's quite interesting idea. I think he can make PSG win Champions League if everyone follow his ideals