What does PSG’s UCL performance mean for stars bound for the World Cup?

This week, PSG we’re knocked out of the Champions League by a rampant Real Madrid team 5-2 on aggregate. Despite looking powerful, PSG simply were complacent over both legs, and even an under firing Madrid team were easily able to punish them. With so many stars, and so many national teams with deep pools of players, will this affect players chances of making their respective team’s squads for Russia?

The first player to analyze is teen superstar Kylian Mbappe. The young winger has impressed the world in the last year, and PSG were quick to make his loan move from Monaco permanent. Mbappe has speed, skill, youth, and a soccer brain on his side. However, his inexperience was truly exposed in the two legs against Madrid, lacking defensive awareness, as well as showing moments of rashness and selfishness on the ball. France are arguably the team with the most players to select from, with a popular graphic on social media showing four French sides (ie. 44 players), all with the capability of winning games, and plenty more players not even making those graphics. With his desire to win, Mbappe is likely to be in the squad for Russia, however his starting XI spot is far from secure, and he will have to show more maturity to snatch a winger spot from the likes of Thomas Lemar or Anthony Martial. 

PSG have numerous French born players along with Mbappe, namely Adrien Rabiot, Alphonse Areola, and Thomas Meunier. As mentioned, after a disaster against Madrid, it is players like these who will be most under threat in the French national team , and they must continue to perform well in the league to ensure their spot on the plane is secure.

Uruguay have seemingly always had a strong front line. For the longest time, Diego Forlan would put up monumental figures, and more recently Luis Suarez and PSG’s Edinson Cavani have the role of scoring goals for the South American nation. Having been joined by Mbappe and Neymar at PSG, Cavani has grown as a player substantially, presumably as the pressure is no longer all on him to score goals. Cavani and Suarez are very different players. While Suarez will give everything for his nation, we are yet to see this kind of passion from Cavani, and it will be key for Uruguay going forward for him to start showing more of his early season form rather than the performances like we saw against Madrid, which, despite scoring goals, were poor by his standards.

Argentina has a deep roster too, and it is PSG’s Argentinian players who I think hurt themselves the most in the recent drubbings by Madrid. Giovani Lo Celso was frankly appalling in the first leg, so much so he was dropped for leg 2 back in Paris. Similarly, Javier Pastore has been the recipient of a lot of negative press after a clip of him walking back after losing possession was posted online. This wouldn’t be as large of an issue if he hadn’t come into the fray as a substitute just minutes before. The lack of enthusiasm from this pair has most definitely hurt their chances of making the roster of a team who will be looking for major change after an awful qualification process. It is noteworthy that Angel Di Maria played comparatively well, and perhaps has increased his chances of a starting spot for a star studded Argentina strike force.

PSG have deep pockets, and high quality international players. However for big nations like France, Uruguay, and Argentina, who all will hope to win the World Cup, there is no room for complacency or anyone who will not give 100% during every game, regardless of the name on the back of the shirt. There are too many up and coming players, who are not household names, who play their hearts out game in and game out for any coach to justify taking a name rather than a player.

Note: PSG have a Brazilian quartet, all of whom have been told by Coach Tite that they are in his plans for Russia. This is why I didn’t write about the likes of Neymar and Thiago Silva. You can read my article about Tite selecting players to his roster so early by searching “Tite” in the search bar.