Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain players on the pitch. The match is of little interest. At the Etihad, stands are almost empty. Goals were completely empty. Zero – zero. Pretty sad game of football.That is how it used to be not so long ago.As everything in life changes (and therefore in sports), so the Citizens and Saints have transformed from not overly interesting to teams that everyone can’t wait to watch.Now some would pay a fortune – the fans of the French club are already doing that, setting aside almost 1,200 USD for the match against Strasbourg – because they have the opportunity to watch Lionel Messi. Not only him, but the Argentine is definitely the most attractive individual in Mauricio Pochettino’s squad.Jay-Jay was the first to light the torch that shines today in Paris upon Messi’s arrivalIt is not a small number of those who believe that Man City and PSG are the main candidates for winning the Champions League in May 2022, especially because of the money from the Middle East invested in the mega-signings they made in the recent past.Before the strong influence of the petro-dollar, one side relied on English players with sort-of a pedigree, the other mostly on French football players. It is no wonder that on December 3, 2008, when they first met, they attracted only 25,626 people to the Etihad Stadium.To be fair, that was quite an attendance for them, having in mind that it was the group phase of the UEFA Cup and that the rosters were not that interesting.Manchester City: Hart – Zabaleta, Dunn, Ben Haim, Garrido – Kompany, Elano, Ireland – Vassell, Sturridge – Jo. Came into play as substitutes: Mwaruwari, Evans, Hamman. Manager: Mark Hughes.PSG: Landreau – Traore, Camara, Bourillon, Sakho – Pancrate, Makelele, Clement, Rothen – Luyindula, Kezman. Came into play as substitutes: Giuly, Armand, Hoarau. Coach: Paul le Guen.With all due respect to some players, and we can count them with the fingers of one hand, the vast majority of these guys would find it difficult to secure a place in the current lineups of the two teams in their best years.The difference in quality can be best seen by the fact that both the English and the French were eliminated in the quarterfinals of the UEFA Cup. City were eliminated by Hamburg, now a member of second division in Germany, while Paris Saint-Germain lost to Dynamo Kiev.And then they say that money cannot buy success. However, a lot of money is needed, since the Citizens have spent 2.3 billion USD on new signings since the 2008/09 season until today. PSG a bit less – 1.7 billion USD. City took the Premier League over (five titles in the last nine years), and the Saints dominate Ligue 1 (seven titles in nine seasons).The only thing is that neither of them (yet) have what they long for. The Champions League.
