Will PSG’s Champions League exit land them Mourinho over Man Utd?
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An inept Champions League second-leg display consigned Paris Saint-Germain to the European scrapheap for another season and could in turn send their manager in the same direction.
Needing to score at least once to overturn the 2-2 draw Manchester City earned at the Parc des Princes in the quarter-final, Laurent Blanc’s side turned in a toothless effort at the Etihad Stadium, crashing out of the competition to Kevin De Bruyne’s superlative second-half strike.
The exit was PSG’s fourth straight in the last eight of the competition and is sure to cast doubts over Blanc’s future at the helm, especially with a certain Jose Mourinho milling about without a job.
Champions League success is what the French powerhouses crave most and, although Blanc has delivered three straight Ligue 1 crowns during his tenure, he has proved himself incapable of guiding the club to the promised land.
Obviously the most glittering part of Mourinho’s dazzling CV is his double success in the competition, so it would seem churlish of PSG’s Qatar Sports Investments owners not to consider tempting the former Chelsea man to the French capital.
A seeming Special One obsession to succeed Louis van Gaal in the Manchester United dugout could well prove a sizeable speed bump in that road, though Les Rouge-et-Bleu are a more immediate attraction.
It’s not guaranteed, for example, that the Red Devils make it into next season’s Champions League. They are currently scrapping City tooth and nail for that honour and are rated as 7/2 outsiders in the duel by Ladbrokes.
Considering the Parisiens are 28 points ahead of their nearest rival at the top of Ligue 1, there appears little threat to PSG’s future participation in Uefa’s flagship club competition, while joining forces with Mourinho pretty much makes winning the league a slam dunk for the entirety of his stay.
Whether all that appeals to the Portuguese over a stay in the Premier League remains to be seen, but PSG testing those waters looks an increasing certainty at the very least.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
