PSG face Champions League elimination with loss at Dortmund: Is this their biggest group stage match ever?

Paris Saint-Germain have had a few scrapes in the UEFA Champions League since their 2011 acquisition by Qatar Sports Investments, but Borussia Dortmund at Signal Iduna Park on Wednesday is shaping up to be their closest brush yet with unthinkable group stage elimination. Regularly securing qualification with games to spare, the Ligue 1 giants are not that unfamiliar with dropping into second spot behind the likes of a rival big name such as Barcelona in 2014, Real Madrid in 2015, Arsenal in 2016 or Manchester City in 2021. The difference between this year and those previous editions, though, is that a knockout stage berth was always more or less assured regardless of finishing first or second — rarely have they been in a do or die situation like Wednesday in Group F where a draw might not be enough to go through.

We take a look back at some of PSG’s trickiest paths to the round of 16 and other high stakes scenarios from the past 10 or so years.

2012-13: Group A

At a glance, you might be wondering why this one is considered a pressurized game when PSG advanced in top spot ahead of FC Porto with five wins from six games and 10 points clear of Dynamo Kyiv in third. True, Les Parisiens were already guaranteed of their knockout place ahead of time, but the final group game at home to the Portuguese giants was high stakes for Carlo Ancelotti as he had been threatened with the sack unless PSG won after a wobbly run of domestic form which included a 2-1 loss away at OGC Nice in Ligue 1. The French champions went on to beat Porto 2-1 at Parc des Princes but that was the game which cost PSG’s Qatari owners arguably the most elite head coach of their entire tenure.

“I liked the project, but in the second year they were not so happy with me,” said Ancelotti years later. “For a Champions League match in which we were already through to the knockouts, we had lost a league game (Nice 2-1) before winning (Evian 4-0), and they told me that if I did not beat Porto, they would sack me. I told them, ‘How can you say that to me? It breaks our trust.’ I decided to leave in February, even if they wanted to renew me.”

2013-14: Group C

Although PSG eventually topped a group containing Olympiacos and SL Benfica, there were only three points in it by the end as the French outfit only won four of their six games. A 2-1 loss in Portugal and a 1-1 draw at home to RSC Anderlecht who only had that single point to show for their entire sorry campaign was compounded by needing a late Edinson Cavani winner to overcome the Greeks in Paris. Without that, PSG would have squeaked home by a single point while Olympiacos only beat Benfica into second place on head-to-head points.

2018-19: Group C

Perhaps there is something about being in Group C that PSG do not like as they barely made it out alive five years later. Thomas Tuchel’s side opened with a 3-2 loss away at Liverpool but eventually ran out group winners ahead of both the Reds and Napoli by just two points. A late Angel Di Maria equalizer at home to the Italians in a pulsating 2-2 draw was the pinnacle of the drama in Paris and a 2-1 home win over Liverpool — who would go on to win the whole thing — was key in securing top spot. Jurgen Klopp’s men edged Ancelotti’s Napoli by two goals across all group stage games (nine to seven) and those are often the fine margins that impact entire UCL campaigns which PSG will hope to be on the right end of this year.

2020-21: Group H

Two years later and it was another close call in a Champions League which also featured RB Leizpig, Manchester United and Istanbul Basaksehir. PSG finished slightly more comfortably with a three-point cushion by the end of the group stage, but it came down to the wire and head-to-head away goals by which the French side triumphed by a single goal to finish ahead of the Germans on 12 points. United came third with nine points despite beating PSG 2-1 in Paris while Tuchel’s side also went down to Leipzig in Germany to an opening goal scored by ex-Parisien Christopher Nkunku in a game which also saw Di Maria give them the lead. A Neymar-inspired 3-1 win away at United was the key, which will encourage Luis Enrique’s men, but they had the home game against Basaksehir to spare unlike this year which sees no margin for error.