Paris facing the return match syndrome in the Champions League

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PSG will rediscover the flavor of the great qualifying evenings in Europe. Three weeks after their precious and narrow victory acquired in added time, the Parisians challenge, on Wednesday March 9, Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu, in the round of 16 second leg of the Champions League, with the objective of finishing the job and qualify for the quarters. For the Parisians, such a meeting is also a psychological challenge, they who have often approached this type of match with feverishness.

From an accounting point of view, the figures do not lie. Under the Qatari era, Paris Saint-Germain played 15 return matches in the Champions League. He won only three (still in the round of 16: against Bayer Leverkusen in 2014, Chelsea in 2016, and against Borussia Dortmund in 2020), for four draws, and above all eight defeats. Unsurprisingly, this meager record (20% wins) has not always been enough to allow PSG to climb to the next round.

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For Paris, success in the first leg is not synonymous with qualification either. When the club from the capital is in a favorable tie (victory in the first leg), it has a 62% chance of moving on to the next round (five out of eight qualifications). When he did not take the lead in the first leg, it was almost mission impossible, since PSG only managed to qualify once after a defeat in the first leg (out of four attempts). It was against Dortmund, in 2020 (2-1 defeat in the first leg, 2-0 victory in the return).

In its recent history, Paris have stumbled in the second leg of very different double confrontations. Some underperformance came in the form of worrying defeats or draws just weeks after a solid win, on the one hand, like against Barca (1-1) and Bayern (0-1) at home last season . “Personally, it was the time when they scared me the most”remembers the former player and consultant for France Télévisions Eric Roy. “We remember Messi missing his penalty, it could have given a very different game and result if he had scored.”

Because PSG has above all suffered painful reversals of the situation, and seen its European dreams escape it after disastrous return matches, which have gone down in history. In 2014, against Chelsea, Edinson Cavani’s teammates lost the benefit of their 3-1 first leg victory by falling 2-0 at Stamford Bridge.

How not to mention then the Barcelona comeback in 2017: their improbable victory, 6-1, had allowed the Catalans to snatch an unexpected qualification in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. Paris, however brilliant winner on the score of 4-0 in the first leg, had only his eyes to cry.

Two years later, again. After an impressive success against Manchester United at Old Trafford (2-0), the Parisians sank at home against a more than revamped Mancunian team and were eliminated on a penalty conceded by Presnel Kimpembe at the last minute (1-3).

“These disappointments often happen when it feels like everything has been done in the first leg”analyzes Eric Roy. “And then on the way back, there is bad luck, clumsiness, which gives extraordinary scenarios. The Manchester match, you do it again 100 times, Manchester lose 100 times. It’s a small miracle that they managed to winning it. The comeback is a miracle too, no one could have imagined it.”

The minds of Parisians have often been singled out when explaining these collapses. The day before the reassembly, Blaise Matuidi and Julian Draxler, gathered for an interview, joked about the possibility of falling 5-1 at Camp Nou, qualifying for the away goal rule and assured that they would be “happy”. A state of mind that had questioned some supporters. Thus, qWhen the stakes begin to be felt, Paris is satisfied with the minimum, doubts and wavers, embodied by Thiago Silva, historic captain too often appeared distraught and sorry in post-match interviews.

Moreover, when the final phase of the Champions League is upset by the health crisis in 2020 and turns into “Final 8” with knockout matches, PSG performs. That summer, the Parisians successively defeated Atalanta Bergamo then Leipzig, broke the glass ceiling of the last four and even climbed to the final, the first in their history (not to mention the victory against Borussia Dortmund in the round of 16 round trip just before confinement). Paris is revealed in a new format that leaves him no time to gamberger.

“I don’t think there is an inhibition, a complex”however tempers Eric Roy. “It’s more a question of concentration, and bad luck, above all, with unlikely scenarios.” Scenarios that seem to repeat themselves, but which cannot continue forever, he assures. Paris is not condemned to suffer its image of eternal loser.

From Wednesday, against Real Madrid, PSG have more than ever the opportunity to ensure a good return match, to break free and strike a blow. “They won’t be comfortable with the result of the first leg. And when they feel in danger, that’s when they are the best”, predicts Eric Roy. The Parisians will no doubt be keen to prove him right.


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