DOWN AND OUT IN PARIS NOT LONDON
As metaphors for PSG’s European endeavours over the past decade go, there was something bordering on poetic about the fact that, in what was almost certainly his very last action as a footballer representing his monied local club in Europe, Kylian Mbappé tripped over his own feet. His legs a blur as he chased in vain after a poorly weighted through ball from deep, the feted striker lost his balance and fell over, hitting the deck just as the final whistle left his state-owned team’s obsession with becoming Big Cup champions unfulfilled and in plumes of yellow smoke for yet another year. Compared to some of PSG’s often-slapstick exits over the past seven seasons, this was far from the most ignominious and it can legitimately be argued the French side played quite well and were more than a tad unlucky in hitting the woodwork six times across two legs against Borussia Dortmund. But still, out of Big Cup they go, again, to which the only appropriate reaction from completely impartial neutrals everywhere ought to be a resoundingly gleeful a-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha … a-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha … honk!
