Recently PSG reached the finals of the UEFA champions league for the First Time in their History. Ever Since the Qatari overtake of the Club, champions League Glory had been the main objective of the Club owners and management.
With Humongous Financial Backing, PSG successfully Attracted the Superstars of Football.
Starting 2012, a host of superstars joined to overhaul the Squad, while the role of the hero for the French Revolution in Football was given Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Zlatan Era
In 2012, Ibrahimovic arguably belonged to that small group of elite footballers who competed for the position of the Third best player in the world.
Zlatan Lead from the front as PSG won their third league title ever, while also scoring 30 league goals for the first time in French league since Jean Pierre Papin had done so in 1989–90 season.
From 2012–2016, PSG won the league consecutively while Zlatan was the main Marque player for them. He also became their all-time top scorer until the record was Surpassed By Edinson Cavani. He became the top scorer of Ligue 1 three times out of four scoring 30 goals in 2012–13, 26 goals in 2013–14 and 38 league goals in 2015–2016. He also became the player with Most Ligue 1 goals in a season: 38 in 2015–16 season, most goals scored in a single season: 50 in 2015–16 season.
In the European Competition, Zlatan did not enjoy much success PSG were always knocked out before the Semifinal stage.
Ibrahimovic was the First Leader of the PSG side that joined the ranks of the best Teams of the world. He was among the first ones who laid the Foundations of PSG as a top team in Europe.
Neymar Era
Neymar’s transfer to PSG is one of the most remarkable events in the History of Football. This was one of the very rare cases when a very successful player left a Top Team like Barcelona to join League often Referred to as the “Farmer’s League”.
The money spend was too huge even for other Elite Clubs. In this debut season, Neymar Scored 28 goals in 30 matches while PSG won the domestic Treble. They were knocked out in the round of 16 by real Madrid while Neymar was out with an injury.
In 2018–19 Season, PSG again won the league Tittle but were knocked out of the Champions League in the round of 16 by a Struggling Manchester united while Neymar watched from the sidelines. Neymar spent most of the season on the sidelines due to injury.
2019–2020: Champions League Final
This season proved to be rather good for Team. PSG won the league again, won the Coupe de France behest a goal from Neymar, and reached the Final of the Champions League but lost the final to FC Bayern Munich.
Both Neymar and Ibramovic are seen as the Leaders of their respective eras. While Under Zlatan, PSG never reached the Semi-final of the UCL, but one can’t ignore the fact that during the Zlatan era, PSG was eliminated by teams that were in their Golden Age of the 21st Century while PSG still a work in progress project. Zlatan and Co laid the foundation that gave the potential to attract players like Neymar, Mbappe, and Di Maria.
In Today’s PSG, given the presence of Mbappe, Di Maria, K.Navas, and many more, no one player can be termed as an outstanding Icon.
Author: Hamzah Mattoo
Creative Writer at Headkick.co