Petulant and pathetic PSG prove that money cannot buy class

Paris Saint-Germain may have taken the moral high ground in the last fortnight as they watched European Super League clubs fall on their swords.

The French giants stood firm and resisted the temptation of the billions on offer from the breakaway rebel competition. On the pitch, they are hardly footballing paragons of virtue. The sneering flat-track bullies of Ligue 1 tried every trick they could muster to revive their Champions League semi-final hopes but Manchester City kept them at arms’ length.

If Angel Di Maria was not diving and kicking out, Neymar was squaring up to opponents in frustration at not being able to use his magic at the highest level like he can in his domestic games.

Without Var they would have been awarded the most unjust of early penalties that would have got them back into the tie.

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As the ball bounced off Oleksandr Zinchenko’s shoulder, five PSG players jumped into the air to pressurise Björn Kuipers into awarding the spot-kick. The Dutch referee had already been tested by their crude diving and succumbed to the pressure.

That was the way the Parisians went about their business, garnering no sympathy when City hit them with their route-one opening goal from Riyad Mahrez, which effectively wished them farewell and good riddance to them this season.

They have been shown 10 red cards this season and it was too much for Di Maria, who lashed out at Fernandinho and got his marching orders. They were mentally gone and by that time PSG wanted to be anywhere else but Manchester.

This was meant to be the stage for a player like Neymar to prove his class. With hail storms coming down in the first half, Kylian Mbappe only fit for the bench and his team trailing, it was when the Brazilian was needed. The likes of Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi would simply find a way.

But as City snuffed him out he joined the ranks of his petulant team-mates, squaring up to Bernardo Silva after getting his ankles clipped. Neymar’s expression at the end of the first leg suggested hope was fading for PSG, and his reaction here confirmed it.

At 29, he has a contract offer from the French giants and most expect him to sign it. Why wouldn’t he? PSG may find a way to lose a one-horse title race in France this season but Neymar could probably win another four or five before hanging up his boots.

“I’m pretty sure if he’d stayed in Barca they’d have won two or three championships more, with Neymar, Messi, Luis Suarez, the best three I’ve seen,” said Pep Guardiola. When he was in Spain he also had those world-class players around him. When Mahrez knocked in his second goal, there was the unedifying sight of berating his own team-mates.

A real challenge would be trying to test himself in England, where the moaning would not be tolerated. The question would be asked whether he could get the better of players like Kyle Walker - or the surplus of international-class right-backs in the Premier League - on a regular occasion.

Neymar does not lack for work rate. He puts the running in, but often had six players around him and needed help around him.

The smart money is on Neymar extending his stay at PSG and they may also buy a few stars from Europe who fancy the glamorous city and the wages on offer from the Qatari-backed club. As players saw the red mist, they proved that all the money in the world cannot buy class.

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