Jean-Baptiste Sarrazin, with AFP 9:28 p.m., March 09, 2023

The day after Paris Saint-Germain's elimination from the Champions League in the round of 16 against Bayern, Alain Cayzac, former president of the capital club (between 2006 and 2008) reacted to this new failure in "Europe 1 Sport".

He said he was disappointed but nevertheless defends the Qatari project.

Paris Saint-Germain's two failed sets against Bayern Munich (1-0/2-0) complete 12 years of more or less resounding European failures from which the club is struggling to learn lessons in building a team.

Alain Cayzac, president of PSG between 2006 and 2008, was a guest on the 

Europe 1 Sport

program  (every evening from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.) and did not mince his words: "I experienced it badly (the elimination) but it's not a crushing defeat, it's a crushing disappointment".

The French advertiser nevertheless believed in it: "After the first half I was very positive because we had found a 3-5-2 system. And then in the second half, we were swept away. Bayern formed a defensive block that prevented Mbappé and Messi from existing", he noted.

"Our maximum, that's it, that's the truth", lamented Kylian Mbappé after this new fiasco, the fifth elimination in the round of 16 in seven years, which highlighted the immense difference between the giant's sports policy Bavarian and that of Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), owner of PSG since 2011.

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"Building an identity"

PSG definitely can't do it in the Champions League, unlike the big teams in Europe.

Bayern's squad is "built to win the Champions League", Mbappé pointed out after the match, as if to imply that this did not seem to be the case for PSG.

For Alain Cayzac, the Parisians must review their system in depth: "You have to think about building an identity, having a real bench. There is a real construction site".

And for good reason, when the club with six Champions Leagues brings in confirmed internationals from major selections such as Leroy Sané, Sadio Mané, Serge Gnabry and Joao Cancelo during the match, Paris leaves its bench two 17-year-old teenagers, El Chadaille Bitshiabu and Warren Zaire-Emery to make up for the holes in his workforce.

The former president of PSG, however, does not question the work of the Qataris since 2011. "I would be in no position to give lessons. I was president in a period when it was not easy. I am not nostalgic . There have been many successful things. I think that the recruitment of stars was a good choice, it was a good way to relaunch the PSG brand", finally concluded the former manager, who expects to more balance within the Paris workforce, starting next year.