The Paris Saint-German president, Nasser al-Khelaifi, has hailed the French club’s elimination of Chelsea from the Champions League as key to the long-term success of their “project” with the team’s progress on away goals having secured the first scalp of an elite club since Qatar Sports Investment’s takeover.
PSG twice equalised despite playing for over 90 minutes with 10 men following the controversial dismissal of Zlatan Ibrahimovic just after the half-hour mark. The Swede’s exit had suggested Laurent Blanc’s side might suffer similar disappointment in south-west London to that of a year ago, when their 3-1 first-leg advantage had been eroded late on, only for David Luiz and Thiago Silva, two of their most expensive signings, to conjure fine headers and propel the French into a third successive quarter-final.
Blanc suggested post-match that history would remember the success as “a reference point” as this club seek to dine regularly at “Europe’s top table”. “It is one of our best results, for sure,” said al-Khelaifi. “To qualify here at Stamford Bridge was very difficult. It was not easy, but the players, the coach really proved that we could make it, and we made it. I was really confident before the match and I told them that. I had a feeling we would qualify because I saw the belief in the eyes in the players.
“And we played really well, even with 10 players for more than 95 minutes. We really deserved to win. It was really important to our project. Since we bought the club we believed in our philosophy, we believed in our targets. We are a big club and we can beat the other big clubs. Our players have proved that now.”
Qatar Sports Investment, directly owned by the State of Qatar and its Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, have now been in charge at Parc des Princes for three and a half years and had been awaiting a true demonstration of their lavishly constructed team’s potential as they seek to realise their principal target of securing the European Cup by 2018. Defeats on away goals to Barcelona and Chelsea in the last two seasons in the quarter-finals had been considered evidence of progress though, while they have only returned to that stage of the competition, this triumph is significant.
The result may also have positive ramifications for Blanc, who is contracted until 2016 but whose position had appeared delicate with the likes of Diego Simeone, Jürgen Klopp and even former manager Carlo Ancelotti mentioned as potential candidates to take the club to the next level. Now, however, PSG are looking forward to another quarter-final and are confident they can progress even further. “We beat Chelsea, so now I think we can go far,” added al-Khelaifi. “We will take on anyone [in the next round].”
