Lionel Messi and Neymar led the Paris Saint-Germain players apologising to the club’s ultras following a pitiful performance in their Champions League loss to Bayern Munich.
The home side were outplayed for the majority of the tie at the Parc des Princes stadium as Kingsley Coman’s strike early in the second half settled the first leg of the Round of 16 tie. It was a result that puts Christophe Galtier’s side as underdogs ahead of next month’s second leg.
It was a result that continues an alarming slide of form for the Ligue 1 leaders. Since the turn of the year they have now lost five matches across all competitions and risk ending the season with another European failure and underperformance in Europe.
PSG have slipped to Ligue 1 defeats away at Lens, Rennes and Monaco in the past six weeks while they suffered an exit from the Coupe de France away at Marseille last week. They were also held to a league draw at home to Reims.
This was the backdrop for a somewhat uneasy atmosphere between the club’s players and supporters, who did offer them full vocal backing throughout the match against Bayern. This was despite the German side outclassing their opponents for large sections of the match.
Julian Nagelsmann’s side dominated the opening 70 minutes of the encounter but only had Coman’s strike to show for their superiority. The introduction of Kylian Mbappe – who was not expected to participate in the game at all due to a recent muscle injury – helped turn the dial for PSG in the closing section of the match.
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Bayern goalkeeper Yann Sommer was forced into several good saves and Mbappe did find the net after Nuno Mendes ran behind the away side’s defence, but the goal was correctly ruled out by VAR following an offside check.
After the match, Messi and Neymar led a delegation of PSG players to stay behind on the pitch and go over to the club’s ultras – it was a mix of apologising for their performance and defeat, alongside thanking the club’s fans for their backing throughout the match.
PSG have never lifted the Champions League in their history, with their 2020 final defeat against Bayern Munich – when their former youth-team graduate Coman once again scored against them – their best performance in the competition to date.
