Champions League – PSG-Dortmund (0-1) cheat sheet: Frustrating for Paris, but not unfair

Unlike the first leg, it was Paris who put the pressure on on Tuesday. Ten minutes of duels won, balls recovered very quickly and great technical mastery but no chances. The opportunities, precisely: this is what has long been lacking in Paris, in front of a Parc des Princes which ended up being cold. How many missed crosses when Gonçalo Ramos was on the pitch? Successful crosses when the Portuguese’s size was lacking in the area? It was necessary to calm down an absolutely heated audience in the first half.

Then, in addition to facing a defense of total serenity for 180 minutes, the Ile-de-France club started playing against the uprights. Warren Zaire-Emery (47th) – even if the referee raised his flag in the process -, Nuno Mendes (61st), Kylian Mbappé (86th) and finally Vitinha (88th) grabbed the post or the bar of a Gregor Kobel who only had one big save to make, precisely by deflecting Mbappé’s attempt onto his bar.

Bad luck therefore took over from helplessness. For, each time, the same sensation: that Luis Enrique’s men could have played two more matches without finding fault against the improbable guest from Wembley.

Kylian Mbappé was to wear PSG for his last home outing in the European Cup. The story ends with a very dull performance, like that of the first leg. Like its scorer or an overly messy Ousmane Dembélé, Paris lacked personality. Lucas Beraldo lost the duel that should not have been lost. Vitinha was the only clearing in a very gloomy evening.

Opposite, the Mats Hummels – Nico Schlotterbeck hinge showed unfailing solidity, and the former still brought back, almost ten years later, very bad memories to French supporters.

PSG lacked a lot of ingredients to earn the right to go to Wembley on June 1st. Success is one of them. After the double post of Kylian Mbappé and Achraf Hakimi in the first leg, Paris again hit the uprights four times on Tuesday. Over the last 20 years, no team has received as much money as the French champion in a Champions League season (14).

And what about this free kick which, within a few centimeters, would have been a penalty for Ousmane Dembélé, hooked at the extreme edge of the penalty area by Hummels (65th) ? The famous signs of destiny that do not deceive.

PSG lost their sixth match in seven C1 semi-finals on Tuesday evening. His only victory at this stage of the competition will remain that against Leipzig in a match of no return during the Final Four of 2020. The definition of a glass ceiling.

The frustration will be hard to leave Parisian supporters in the days to come. Reach the semi-finals to stop against Dortmund, in a very clear part of the table. Receive six times the amounts over the two meetings. Not scoring against a BVB who were considered the underdogs of the last four. There is something to be angry about: it might have looked like a good year on paper.

But we must not forget that Paris has too often been on the edge this season in the Champions League. From the first hot trip to Newcastle to this quarter return unlocked by a Barcelona exclusion through this qualification in the eighth at the last minute on the last day, PSG spent a lot of time suffering. Second behind BVB in the pools, the capital club spent 180 minutes without scoring against the same 5th in the Bundesliga, which concedes more than one goal per match in the league. It can’t be a coincidence. Nor a simple story of posts.

This match brought Paris face to face with its reality. That of a team not yet mature. Partly because she is very young – she had the lowest average age (24) for a semi-finalist since Arsenal in 2009. Mainly because she is under construction, at the start of the Luis Enrique era , and in the end, a half in this context remains a very good result, almost unexpected at the start of the season. The Spanish coach has also tried everything: with Gonçalo Ramos up front or without him, with Dembélé in the center or on the side. Nothing happened. And we can’t blame him for much.

To his players, yes. While Dortmund approached these two matches with calm and character, the French champion lacked personality. He needed players who came out of the box. The typical description of a Kylian Mbappé of great evenings. But the French striker has been a normal player in three of Paris’ last four matches in C1. Again, frustrating. And again, logic? The management of his case will inevitably come back on the table.