Champions League reaction - If PSG don't win European title, Neymar signing has been a failure

ByDan Quarrell

Updated 08/04/2021 at 16:43 GMT

In the latest Eurosport show in partnership with The Beautiful Game Podcast, the team look back at the first legs from the Champions League quarter-finals and all the drama from the huge European match-ups. Can Bayern Munich still recover to defend their title after losing to a Kylian Mbappe-inspired PSG? There is that and much more.

If PSG don't manage to win the Champions League title, Neymar's big-money transfer to the club has been a failure, according to our experts.

In the latest Eurosport vodcast in partnership with The Beautiful Game Podcast, Dotun Abijoh, Justin Cole, Deji Odedina and Pete Sharland broke down the massive midweek ties.

The team believe PSG's crucial first-leg win over Bayern was huge, but Mauricio Pochettino's men must now go all the way if Neymar is to be known as a success at the Parisian giants.

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"Neymar's legacy at PSG hinges on them winning the Champions League," said Odedina.

If they don't win the Champions League, his time at PSG will be known as a failure, because he went there to step out of Lionel Messi's shadow.

"Without the Champions League, in my opinion, it does not make the move worth it."

On the match itself, Odedina added: "The result surprised me in a very positive way. Bayern controlled the possession, but PSG were devastating. It was a classic Champions League quarter-final."

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Elsewhere, the team felt as though Real Madrid were not given the respect they deserved as Zinedine Zidane's side beat Liverpool in the first leg of their tie.

"Everyone you spoke to said Liverpool were going to win, but the one thing you can't buy or pretend to have is experience," Odedina said.

Before the game, I felt there was a total disrespect and disregard for Real Madrid.

"Real Madrid have so much experience having won the competition so many times and Liverpool's approach was very lethargic and pedestrian."

Meanwhile, the group felt as though Jude Bellingham showed his class and composure in a big way, even though Borussia Dortmund came away with a defeat against Manchester City.

"Dortmund's best performer, on a pitch full of world-class players, was Bellingham," Abijoh said of the 17-year-old former Birmingham City player.

"This guy is a class performer. He has a massive chance to go to the Euros now, and the sky is the limit for him."

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