Champions League Exit Signals Moment for Zlatan Ibrahimovic and PSG to Part Ways

MANCHESTER, England — Paris Saint-Germain crashed out of the UEFA Champions League at the quarter-final stage for the fourth consecutive season on Tuesday after a 1-0 defeat away at Manchester City completed a disappointing 3-2 aggregate loss to the English Premier League outfit.

Whatever happens from here over the remainder of the French champions’ campaign, no clear progress will be made this term, and the capital club’s ambitious Qatari owners will consider this season one of stagnation.

PSG coach Laurent Blanc made the baffling decision to switch from his familiar 4-3-3 formation to an untested 3-4-1-2, and the result was a farcical first half in which Les Parisiens were lucky not to be trailing at the break.

Le President reverted to his preferred 4-3-3 system just before half-time after Thiago Motta’s injury prompted a reshuffle, but the damage had already been done. Kevin De Bruyne’s winner, when it arrived, had an air of inevitability about it and completed a deserved win for City.

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Blanc and his players should feel immense regret over their poor pair of performances against Manuel Pellegrini’s men.

Although the better side on the night advanced at Etihad Stadium, there is no way PSG should have allowed the Citizens to be the better side over the two legs.

Suspensions to Blaise Matuidi and David Luiz, as well as the injuries Marco Verratti and Javier Pastore, played their parts in the Ligue 1 giants’ defeat over both legs.

However, the real damage was done in the first leg when a sloppy performance at Parc des Princes—and some costly Zlatan Ibrahimovic misses—gifted City two valuable away goals and the advantage. From that moment onwards, PSG were facing an uphill task.

Speaking in the post-match press conference, Blanc revealed his disappointment at his side’s fourth straight quarter-final exit but defended his bizarre decision to change formation without warning:

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We didn't play our best football in either of the two matches. We were missing players, but that's not an excuse. Tonight we tried to do what we had to do: win. But now we have to congratulate Manchester City, who played two excellent matches of football.

We are very disappointed, because we could have done much better. They played better than us and we weren't able to score when we were dominating and that makes it harder to win matches.

The formation? We analysed the first leg and we decided to solidify our centre of defence to prevent their attackers getting the better of us but we got ourselves in trouble. Then there was the injury to Thiago Motta, which meant we had to change again. We had big ambitions, but we fell just short.

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Blanc will be under intense scrutiny following the result, and rightly so. However, the French tactician will not be alone in feeling the heat after PSG’s disappointing effort over the two legs.

Three of the French champions’ star men, Ibrahimovic, Edinson Cavani and Angel Di Maria, will undoubtedly have their muted individual and collective showings pored over in the coming weeks.

For the super Swede, the face of this current PSG project, the limp doubleheader against City could mark the end of his time in the French capital.

Speaking with the press after the game, Zlatan appeared to question Blanc’s decision to move away from the team’s familiar 4-3-3 formation and insisted that he still sees his side as superior to the Sky Blues:

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In the first half we played with a new system and what happened, happened. If it had gone well, nobody would say anything, and now people will say we gave it away.

The second half was better, when we reverted to our normal tactics, but we gave away two games. I think we are a better team, but we lost tonight and we drew 2-2 at home, so all the best to Manchester City.

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With his contract coming to an end this summer and no indication that talks with PSG will produce a one- or two-year extension, now is the moment for Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) to take a significant decision for the future of the club.

Knocked out of the Champions League on eight of the last nine times he has played in the quarter-finals, which is more than any other player, it does not look like Ibrahimovic will be able to lead the team to the semi-finals or further.

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PSG’s exit to City is not solely the Scandinavian star’s fault. Admittedly, he had his penalty saved by Joe Hart in the first leg and also missed an easy chance in Paris, too.

However, it was also his two free-kick efforts that forced the Englishman to make two good saves in Manchester, and those were two of the visitors’ best chances.

Ibrahimovic, Maxwell and Motta all represent part of a cycle that is coming to an end at Parc des Princes, and there is no point in QSI prolonging it.

The three are all veterans and struggled to impose themselves on City when PSG needed them to step up most. Cavani and Di Maria also failed to do so, but both are a good five or so years younger than the other three.

As PSG figurehead, most of the flak will be directed towards Ibrahimovic, but it should be remembered that Les Parisiens’ No. 10 scored two of the four goals that took them past Chelsea in the last 16 and one of the two in the home draw against City.

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What needs changing is the dynamic within the French champions’ squad, and the best way to do that is to inject some youth into it.

The moment has arrived for QSI to start a new cycle, which can only happen if Ibrahimovic, Motta, Maxwell and possibly Cavani are allowed to move on as part of a regeneration process.

Adrien Rabiot has proved that he is more than capable of replacing the Italy international, and Layvin Kurzawa is ready to usurp Maxwell at left-back.

The big challenge for PSG will be to find a replacement for Ibrahimovic, but that was always going to be an unenviable task, whether it happens this summer, the next or the one after.

In identifying a replacement for the towering striker, QSI need to be sure that they want to continue with Blanc as coach, and they also need to decided whether they trust Cavani enough to step up and fill the void left by the Swede or need to bring in a new star elsewhere.

In order to break into the last four of the Champions League—where they should be at this moment in time, judging by their squad when all players are fit and available—PSG need to rejuvenate in certain areas.

That rejuvenation must start now, and it must start with moving on from the man who has carried the club this far.