This was supposed to be the year Paris St Germain joined the European elite with a statement victory in the Champions League, yet the French champions fluffed their lines in spectacular fashion and were trampled in the dust by a Catalan juggernaut.
After swatting aside Barcelona 4-0 in an exhilarating first leg display, an incredible meltdown in the latter stages of Wednesday’s return leg ended with the home side marching triumphantly into the quarter-finals with a 6-5 aggregate win.
PSG invested heavily in a squad designed to compete at the highest level, yet once again they were found wanting against the best and were ousted by Barcelona in the KO stages for the third time in five years.
The French side paid for their passive approach as Barcelona raced to a 3-0 lead before striker Edinson Cavani netted what appeared to be a decisive away goal mid-way through the second half to leave the home side needing to score three more.
The visitors held on until the 88th minute but Barcelona refused to be denied and when Sergi Roberto prodded home the side’s third goal in a seven-minute spell, PSG were left licking their wounds once more.
“I want to apologise to the fans,” said midfielder Marco Verratti. “We are ashamed.”
The statistics do not make pretty reading for PSG, who completed just four passes, three of them kick-offs, from the 85th minute as midfielder Adrien Rabiot struggled to come to terms with the shocking denouement.
“Between 3-1 and 6-1, I do not know what happened,” he said. “We were not supposed to sit back like this, it was not the plan.”
PSG were furious that a theatrical Luis Suarez tumble was rewarded with a stoppage-time penalty that Neymar converted to put Barca within one goal of victory, but coach Unai Emery said the game was lost elsewhere.
“The referee’s decisions were against us but this is not why we are eliminated,” the three-times Europa League-winning coach with Sevilla admitted.
Full-back Thomas Meunier bemoaned the sides lack of professionalism, while the club’s hierarchy said PSG needed to reluctantly accept the result
“It is a nightmare. I don’t believe this happened but we are not going to look for excuses,” club president Nasser al Khelaifi lamented.