Julian Naggelsmann looks towards the bench and reaches for Alphonse Davies, Thomas Müller and Serge Gnabry. Christophe Galtier needs to make a change, he turns his head and doesn’t see that anyone is drinking, those who are sitting can’t give him solutions because they play less than the starters. This is an important difference between Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain. In addition to the eleven cracks he has on the field – all proven and high performance -, the German coach has these three phenomena. And they still have Manuel Neuer, Lucas Hernández and Sadio Mané -injured- Daley Blind and Mazraoui, who were World Cup figures for Holland and Morocco. There are always 20 or 22 top professionals because he fights to the end in all competitions.

Dream of the World Cup with poker at the venue

With a few dishonorable exceptions, Bayern make very few recruitment mistakes. Neuer, Kimmich, Goretzka, Pavard, Davies, De Ligt, Upamecano, until recently Lewandowski, Alaba, Hummels, Ribery, Robben… All come from abroad, all well regarded. In the Bavarian club, there are no devastating passes like Neymar (222 million euros) or Coutinho (160 million euros). With Coutinho and James Rodríguez they tried to borrow, they were not what they thought, they returned them. This is the secret of his lasting success: knowing how to buy. And that is the key to happiness in football.

They are no longer hits

Since the beginning of the new millennium (counting from 2000), Bayern has won 47 titles: 17 Bundesliga, 11 German Cups, 3 League Cups, 8 German Super Cups, 3 Champions Leagues (and 2 runners-up), 2 European Super Cups, 1 Intercontinental Cup and 2 World Club Championships. Huge. In the Champions League, he also reached the semi-finals or quarter-finals several times. It always leaves its mark of solidity and reliability. And never mortgage your finances. In the midst of such a harvest, in 2006 he bought the fantastic stadium Allianz Arena. Today it is the football club with the most members in the world: 323,000. And it has 358,886 registered members in its 4,428 official fan clubs. Of course, it is extremely well managed, but the base of such a pyramid is still well signed, based on three parameters: ability, performance and character, essential attributes that a footballer needs to succeed at the club of Beckenbauer and Gerd Müller, the founding parents of this empire.

America’s Cup in the USA, is it ok…?

Although very different in nature, Paris Saint-Germain is another notable business success. The Qatari sovereign fund Qatar Investment Authority bought 70% of the shares in May 2011 at a price of 70 million euros. He then kept the remaining 30%. In September 2022, the American magazine Forbes estimated the value of the Paris Saint-Germain brand at 3.2 billion dollars (Kylian Mbappé alone is worth 300 million). They took a minor club that had won two leagues since its founding in 1970 and turned it into a world reference. And since the arrival of Lionel Messi, his image and popularity on social networks and marketing have grown tremendously. In these eleven years, they won 8 leagues, 6 French Cups, 6 League Cups and reached the 2020 Champions League final, losing 1-0 in the final to Bayern Munich with a Kingsley Coman goal, interestingly by the same score. and the same shooter in last Tuesday’s clash. In four months, the ultra-modern sports complex Poissy will be ready, which will be the home for all PSG teams, with 17 impeccable pitches. And a plan to build a new stadium already exists in case the Paris city council does not finally sell him the Parque de los Príncipes stadium, where he has played at home until now.

There are no failures in the Qatari investment, it was a fantastic deal, which continues to grow and appreciate. They universalized the name of a club without tradition, about which no one spoke, and achieved twenty victories and turned it into number one in France and a giant in Europe. Of course, the missing crown is the European Champions League and it is insisted upon year after year. But in order to raise Orejona, something more than a commercial vision and a correct composition is needed: an almost perfect roster, like Bayern’s, in terms of numbers and quality. That’s missing. It is a poorly armed team, low and with insufficiently covered positions. Before the start of the season, he brought five new faces: Nordi Mukiele (defender, 12 million euros), Vitinha 41.5 million euros, Renato Sanches 15 million euros (both midfielders), Spaniard Fabián Ruiz 23 million euros and Carlos Soler 18 million euros ( attacking midfielders), Hugo Ekitike (striker, on loan) and paid 38 million euros for the option of winger Nuno Mendes. Three Portuguese and two Spaniards, huuuummm… None of them are up to the European level. Mendes shows interesting things in attack, but does not defend well; Coman’s goal is his only: he got distracted, missed and Coman behind him, completely alone, scored at will. Vitinha has had impressive results in the French league, but when someone signs for more than 40 million, the player has to give a guarantee immediately. Of the six important signatures, at least two must be satisfactory, that is the minimum degree of success. More than the coach is the responsibility of the sports director, the Portuguese Luis Campos. They point to him.

Two accidents were added to that. Firstly, tied for first place in the points and goals table with Benfica, the Portuguese side qualified first by scoring another away goal. This determined that PSG will be second and play Bayern Munich, while Benfica will play against Bruges from Belgium, a big difference. And secondly, that he was damaged by injuries. And those who enter do not comply. Because of this, so far this year, for a month and a half, they have lost five games, three in the league, one in the Cup (eliminated by Olympique de Marseille) and the aforementioned one against Bayern. The popular imagination reads Messi, Neymar and Mbappé and thinks of a team of stars, but Mbappé is injured, Neymar is almost a former player and Messi is close to 36 years old. He made a crazy World Championship, but with the support of ten gladiators, here he throws a wall, and they return a brick. “PSG must put together two teams,” he comments on Twitter. A mistake, it doesn’t even seem good-good, and to stay in the Champions League you have to have someone like that. Most people don’t watch matches, they watch individual goals.

Bayern was the clear favorite and logic was given. This does not mean that the tap is closed. Galtier managed to recover the injured army, perhaps he will arrive in Munich with a full complement. And every game can be won, even though the favorite is still Bayern. That with the endowment he has, he should reach very high. (OR)