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Barcelona (special envoy)
In the parking lot of the legendary Camp Nou, the motor bus Paris Saint-Germain purrs. “Dreaming greatest” , it said on the sides of the vehicle. But nobody seems to take this motto seriously this soft spring evening. Logically beaten (2-0) by FC Barcelona in the quarter-final and eliminated from the Champions League, the players of the capital club take time to get out of the locker room. Bundled up in their tuxedos, younger out without answering reporters crowded into one of the tunnels of the gigantic pregnant. Same for Olivier Letang, assistant athletic director of the Paris training. It is ultimately the president of PSG, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, which is addressed primarily to the media.
“It was too difficult to play against Barca with four players absent during the leg [Marco Verratti and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, suspended, and Thiago Motta Thiago Silva injured] , Barca had eleven players to return. But that’s no excuse , said the forties, patron of the club since its acquisition in June 2011 by Qatar Sports Investments funds (QSI). They have one of the best teams in the world, if not the best. It’s been four years since we bought the PSG, Barcelona exists for over a hundred years. You could see the difference today between the two clubs. But that will not stop us from continuing to carry out our project. We are motivated. “
The” project “QSI is to win the Champions League in 2018. In the light of the performance shown against Barcelona, it still seems utopian.
Matuidi: “We will continue to work”
As a good soldier midfielder Blaise Matuidi did not say anything other than its president after the game: ” em> “We want to make history and we will continue to work, we will do everything to move forward so that it will be better next year. “
Pillar of PSG, the French international was all European campaigns of the club since its acquisition by QSI. It is well placed to see the gap between training Barça. But how can we not feel a hint of bitterness when just been eliminated for the third straight time in the quarterfinals of the most prestigious European competitions?
After his feat against Chelsea ( 1-1 and 2-2 after extra time) in the second round, the team from the capital there was the opportunity to justify its continental referred. She moved in familiar territory at Camp Nou. In May 2013, then driven by Italian Carlo Ancelotti, she had believed to hold for twenty-one minutes qualifying for the last four. Eliminated after a strong draw (1-1), she proudly left the Catalan arena.
“ Tonight, the first feeling is disappointment and then pride. I do not remember a team that has so shaken Barca. He just missed the second goal at the time had assured the Brazilian Leonardo, while sporting director. I will always remember July 14, 2011 when I arrived at the park, it was the desert. When we see twenty months after where we are, it’s bigger than any dream we could have done. “
This semi-failure of the 2012-2013 season gave credit to the QSI project. Now the big teams should be wary of this emerging power on the continental arena football. Meanwhile Leonardo left the club (in summer 2013) and PSG once again fell (3-1, 2-0) in the quarterfinals of the most prestigious European competitions, in April 2014, this time facing the Chelsea’s Jose Mourinho curly.
€ 430 million in transfers from the summer of 2011
Sanctioned under the Financial Fair Play (FPF) in whereby European clubs must not spend more than they earn, the Parisian training in its third continental campaign in Qatar pavilion still strong ambitions. As evidence for a club that has spent nearly 430 million in transfers from the summer of 2011 and has a budget of 490 million for the current season.
Despite a number business (€ 474 million in 2013-2014) which adjoins the Barça (486 million), the QSI dignitaries will have to be patient. They who had set at Nasser Al-Khelaifi the goal of winning the Champions League in 2018. PSG will he actually go further in the competition next season while the effects of its sanction in part of the FPS should still be felt during the summer transfer window?
“In our case, it is not possible to achieve this in such a short time” hammered at Camp Nou Parisian star Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 33 years and whose contract at PSG ends in 2016. The future of many players of the current workforce arises. Italy’s Thiago Motta turns 33 this summer. Argentina’s Ezequiel Lavezzi will have only 30 years on May 3 but is increasingly criticized, as Uruguayan striker Edinson Cavani, bought 65 million euros, or Brazilian defender David Luiz, Chelsea snatched EUR 50 million
White. “We must be patient”
“ You have to be patient, said the PSG coach, Laurent Blanc, in the auditorium of the Catalan speaker. We want results right away, as it will take time. But Paris will succeed if he keeps this desire, this investment. “The position of the French, despite the official support of the president Tuesday night, is weakened by the defeat against Barcelona.
The elimination in the Champions League, however, has a virtue. In the race to win a third consecutive Ligue 1 title and especially to achieve an unprecedented treble on the French scene (after his coronation in the League Cup and before the final of the Coupe de France against Auxerre on May 29), PSG can now fully devote himself to his domestic goals.
The Parisian leaders do not despair, however, to grab a European trophy this season. For once, most of them should go on April 26 at the stage Charléty, to attend the semi-final of the Champions League which will oppose the women’s section of the German PSG Wolfsburg tenantes doubles title. Victorious (2-0) in the first leg, the players of the capital are still in the race to offer QSI his first continental title. A consecration that the Qataris had imagined rather masculine disembarking in Paris.
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