Paris Saint-Germain’s grand bargain is on the line in its UEFA Champions League round of 16 second leg against Valencia on Wednesday (live, FOX Soccer, Wednesday, 2:30 p,m. ET).
Since the Qatar Investment Authority bought the club in the summer of 2011, the French nouveaux riches have been fixated on one thing, spending hundreds of millions of dollars to that end: winning the UEFA Champions League.
The stated objective for the erstwhile mostly underachieving club, which amazingly is the only professional soccer team in Paris, is to be the best in Europe. There was never any mention of winning Ligue 1, France’s domestic league, even though PSG have only won it twice, back in 1993-94 and 1985-86. PSG’s ambitions would be greater than such provincial aspirations. They are to win the biggest of competitions.
When PSG stumbled in an unsightly 1-0 loss to Stade Reims in a league game over the weekend, technical director Leonardo scoffed and pointed out that his side had been built for Europe, not France – never mind that PSG sits in first place in the league at the moment.
Against weak, defensive opponents and a bad field, PSG has trouble grinding out results. While certainly well-equipped at the back and in midfield, their attacking resources are abundant – Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Ezequiel Lavezzi, Javier Pastore, Lucas Moura and on and on and on. They are designed to match up against Europe’s best clubs, who will come at them with their own zippy wingers, surgical strikers and ball maestros, to beat Europe’s best clubs at their own game, so to speak.
It's worked rather nicely so far. PSG sailed through the Champions League group stage, winning five of six in its group with FC Porto, Dynamo Kiev and Dynamo Zagreb – only losing to FC Porto away 1-0. And this fine form appeared to be sustainable through the first leg of the round of 16 against Valencia on Feb. 12. The Parisians were indisputably in command of the game for the first 89 minutes, in spite of playing away from home. They moved the ball around confidently and built all of the attacking momentum. A 10th minute Lavezzi goal and another one by Pastore in the 43rd suggested a blowout was in the works.
But the happenings during the final minutes of that first meeting are the reasons why Wednesday’s second leg is so captivating. In the 90th minute, Adil Rami unexpectedly whipped in the 2-1 for Valencia, and minutes later the hot-tempered Ibrahimovic was sent off for a wild hack at Andres Guardado. Since wonderkid playmaker Marco Verratti had already collected his second yellow card of the competition, that meant PSG will now miss both him and their big Swedish talisman in the return leg.
And thus, suddenly, things aren’t looking so rosy for PSG anymore. With a 2-0 lead, this tie would have been done and dusted long before the second game was played. Now, while they did take the advantage of two road goals back to the Parc des Princes, they will have to make do without two crucial players.
Valencia, meanwhile, is strengthened in the knowledge that a 2-0 win or indeed a one-goal win in which they score at least three goals will see them through. Or, as their manager Ernesto Valverde put it on the subject of scoring goals and avoiding the concession of them: “We must know how to swim and look after our clothes.”
However you put it, PSG doesn’t look so untouchable anymore.
Valencia’s players have spoken of their confidence. They’re a proud club that’s raised several of today’s great players – Chelsea’s Juan Mata for one; Manchester City’s David Silva for another. But their bleak economic picture has forever hampered a domestic or European breakthrough. Their teams are routinely stripped and sold for parts before they get a chance to mature into champions. Still, they believe.
Left winger Jeremy Mathieu remained upbeat before Wednesday clash. “The only secret for winning in Paris is that we believe we can beat them. We are a good team … and we must show that,” said Mathieu. “We must think they are also afraid of us.”
With Spanish strikers Roberto Soldado and Sergio Canales and Argentinian playmakers Ever Banega and Pablo Piatti in their side, they are indeed a side to be feared, especially on the counter-attack.
The Champions League is a different caliber than Ligue 1, yes. But Leonardo surely also knows that the Champions League is fickle; the chronically poor are liable to outfox the unfathomably rich on any day.
In Wednesday’s second fixture, Serie A leader Juventus hold a commanding 3-0 lead in their return match against Scottish side Celtic (live, Wednesday, FOX Soccer Plus, 2: 30 p.m. ET). The Old Lady should finish the job against the Champions League darlings, though Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini remains cautious of the encounter in Turin.
''There's still a lot to do, we mustn't fool ourselves that qualification is already in our pockets,'' said Chiellini. ''I think the 3-0 win in the away leg was a great performance from the squad, but there's still a whole game to play.
''So I am convinced that on Wednesday we will give our all in this game and then only think about where Juventus can get to much later on.''
