European success looks further out of reach than ever.
It will surprise no one that Paris Saint- Germain won their sixth Ligue 1 title in seven years. But what is an eyebrow raiser is that, overall, the French giants regressed during the campaign.
The club’s ultra-ambitious Qatari owners have made no secret of their desire to claim the Champions League trophy sooner rather than later. That’s why Spanish coach Unai Emery was given his marching orders even after winning a domestic treble last year. His replacement, Thomas Tuchel, came in from Borussia Dortmund with a sky-high reputation, yet only delivered one meaningful trophy, the league title.
Tuchel began the season with a 4-0 win against Monaco in the Trophee des Champions. PSG then broke the record for the most consecutive wins at the start of any Ligue 1 campaign with 14, while topping their Champions League group ahead of Liverpool, Napoli, and Red Star Belgrade.
But as 2018 rolled into 2019, the wheels started to come off. Tuchel saw his side crash out of the League Cup against soon-to-be-relegated Guingamp in the quarter-finals, then suffer a penalty shoot-out defeat in the Coupe de France Final against Rennes at the end of April. Sandwiched in between was a limp exit in the Champions League round of 16 to a struggling Manchester United.
This story is from the June 2019 edition of World Soccer.
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This story is from the June 2019 edition of World Soccer.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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