Since the investment group Qatar Investment Authority bought the entire club in 2012, the psg From the middle tiers of French football (only twice qualified for the Champions League between 1999 and 2012) Hobnob immediately with the great world powers. At least when it comes to integrating the stars and assembling several of the most expensive teams each season.

From bright names to already veteran David Beckham either Zlatan Ibrahimovic in these first international steps, in the formation in 2021 of a trident with Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe which promised to fulfill all the objectives set forth.

And yet, year after year, the story is the same.

Wednesday’s 3-0 aggregate defeat by Bayern Munich in the last 16 of the Champions League is just one more in a long list of disappointments for the French this decade. elite names and result gap on the international stage.

It’s not the first, it’s not the most painful and who knows, it might not be the last.

PSG’s failures in the Champions League

The first of these huge blows for PSG came in 2014. Laurent Blanc’s team easily beat Bayern Leverkusen (6-1 on aggregate) in the round of 16 and looked on course for the quarter-finals: beat Chelsea 3-1 in the first legwith goals from Ezequiel Lavezzi, David Luiz and Javier Pastore.

In the return, André Schürrle scored for the Blues in the 32nd of the first half, but with five minutes to go, the French were still ahead on aggregate… Demba Ba appeared. The Frenchman was waiting for Maxwell and the minute 87 He stunned Stamford Bridge, putting the English through thanks to an away goal.

PSG were eliminated again in the quarter-finals in 2015 and 2016, to reach an edition of 2017 that will be remembered by every football fan.

Unai Emery’s men met in the eighth with Barcelona and swept the Spaniards in the first leg with a 4-0 that seemed to doom the series. Two goals from Angel Di Maria, one from Julian Draxler and one from Edinson Cavani. However, Barca were a whirlwind at Camp Nou and with goals from Luis Suarez, Lavin Kurzawa and Lionel Messi from the penalty spot. the Catalans were already winning 3-0 starting the second half.

Another Cavani goal once again seemed to decide the match, since forced Barcelona to score three goals. With two minutes remaining in regulation time, the panorama remained the same and nothing made anyone imagine what would happen from there, in one of the most spectacular comebacks ever seen in the history of this (or any other) sport. Neymar’s goal in the 88th, another from the Brazilian star in the 91st and finally, Sergi Roberto in the 95th to order Luis Enrique’s men up the rankings.

A defeat that marked PSG forever.

2018 saw a resounding collapse in the round of 16 against Real Madrid themselves (5-2 on aggregate), in another huge disappointment in the result, but not so much in terms of the run of the series. However, PSG’s disasters returned a year later, again in the round of 16: the French beat Manchester United 2-0 at Old Traffordwith goals from Presnel Kimpembe and Kylian Mbappé leaving them with unbeatable prospects for the second leg at the Parc des Princes.

But we know that every time PSG seem to be in control of a series, some tragic event occurs. And that’s exactly what happened in Paris. United were off the mark early on through Romelu Lukaku, then a consolation goal from Juan Bernat followed and midway through the first half, another goal from Lukaku to put the English 2-1 up.

Manchester looked all game for the goal that would give them the lead, but couldn’t find it… until third minute discount from the second part, Marcus Rashford scored the decisive 3-1 for the visit, after a Kibebe’s hand within the area.

2020 saw the Parisians finally reach the Champions League finalto see themselves beaten there by Bayern Munich 1-0, while in 2021 they lost in the semi-finals to Citythus arriving at what happened during these hours in Madrid. Will fortunes change at some point for the capital club?

In 2022 another very hard blow appeared, losing a 2-0 lead to Real Madridto suffer a memorable upset by Karim Benzema that turned the series around and ended up leaving the eventual champions Spain in the quarter-finals.

In 2023 the story was much more dynamic: defeat to Bayern Munich 1-0 in the first match and 2-0 in the second game, already in Germany. She was first time since 1995 that the Parisians have not scored a single goal in a Champions League knockout series in two parts.