Takeaways from PSG’s Champions League exit to Borussia Dortmund

“ We really thought we could get to the final. We were the better team… but it’s football, sometimes it isn’t fair .” Paris Saint-Germain’s president Nasser Al-Khelaifi summarised after another disappointing exit from the Champions League. It would be their third semi-final in five years, but unlike in 2020, there would be no shot at glory as the final whistle blew.

PSG had been defeated by Borussia Dortmund home and away by a 1-0 scoreline. It would be an easy point to make that this doesn’t particularly read like PSG deserved to reach the final, but Al-Kehalifi was not being entirely unfair in his assessment.

Perhaps not the better side, but possibly the more dangerous team as they were left rueing the fine margins that seemed to create a chasm between them and their opposition. PSG hit the post or the crossbar six times overall in the semi-final, if just one of those chances went in then the makeup and the feeling of the game would have been very different. But if is only a consolation, and if doesn’t win European titles. 

Luis Enrique’s decision-making across the knockout stages does have to be questioned. There is a case to be made that the Spaniard entered each round of the competition on the back foot due to his tactical composition. Their progress into the semi-finals became a testament to how he would correct his course after his opening gambits would stutter. 

Against Real Sociedad, the Basque side’s intense pressing made life difficult for PSG’s attempts to pass and control in their first meeting. An adjustment with Ousmane Dembélé as a false nine in the second leg prevented the same mistakes. And against Barcelona, Marco Asensio as the false nine was quickly scrapped as an ineffectual ploy against the