Messi and Neymar are stopping PSG winning the Champions League

Robin Bairner

• Updated: 23 May 2023 09:09 CDT
• 4 min read

Tuesday’s Champions League defeat against Bayern Munich provided conclusive proof that it’s time for PSG to ditch both Neymar and Lionel Messi.

Although the Parisians only suffered a 1-0 loss against the German champions, for 65 minutes the gulf in class between these teams was significantly greater.

Remarkably, PSG might have salvaged a draw from the match but for VAR to rule out an equaliser because of a marginal offside decision. The man who put the ball in the net on that occasion was the figure that turned the course of the match: a half-fit Kylian Mbappe.

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The cameo from the France international proved once again that it is he who really carries this side - Messi and Neymar are little more than particularly luxurious garnishes.

For more than an hour the pair wandered around in attack with little impact. There were occasional sparks of life when they received possession, but little that suggested they had it within their powers to turn the game around and certainly nothing of consequence until Mbappe arrived.

It could be legitimately argued that they did not get the service – but this is the crux of the issue for PSG.

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The midfield was hopelessly overrun, both technically and physically. Marco Verratti is typically PSG’s fulcrum in this area, but after a six-week period in which he has managed just 90 minutes of football, he looked unsurprisingly sluggish.

There was nothing alongside the Italian to provide support. Danilo Pereira is a limited figure in possession while Carlos Soler continued his trend of offering nothing. Warren Zaire-Emery, meanwhile, became the youngest player to start a Champions League knockout match, but when a 16-year-old is having to be called upon on such an occasion, it suggests a lack of quality elsewhere in PSG’s squad.

Messi and Neymar were, therefore, given nothing to work with in possession and were ineffective out of it. As such, PSG were effectively playing with nine men for an hour.

PSG need to find balance

Squad building is all about balance, and it was clear that the French side just don’t have that at an elite level when Mbappe is not there.

The most practical solution to this problem is to allow both Messi and Neymar to leave in the summer. This may sound counterintuitive, but with this pair eating up more than €60 million in wages each year, it is placing a severe strain on the club in terms of Financial Fair Play and restricting their options in other areas of the side. This is the reason that they started a Champions League knockout match with such a mediocre-looking midfield.

It's not that Messi and Neymar are bad players; it’s that they use up so much of PSG’s budget it leaves the team with obvious shortcoming elsewhere. Mbappe’s pace and explosiveness are more valuable to this otherwise ponderous PSG side than the craft and trickery of the South Americans.

PSG need to find better balance in their side, and while the experiment with three superstar forwards has been an interesting one, it’s clearly one that undermines other areas of the team when not at absolute full strength.

Better balance on the field requires better balance on the wage bill, and that means it’s time up for Messi and Neymar.