Christophe Galtier believes that success in the Champions League should not determine his current project at Paris Saint-Germain.
PSG have been the dominant force in France over the past decade, winning eight Ligue 1 titles as well as winning the Coupe de France and the League Cup six times.
But the coveted Champions League crown still eludes the Parisian giants, who were closest to it when they lost 1-0 to Bayern Munich in the 2020 final.
PSG will face Bayern again in the round of 16 this season, but head coach Galtier believes his future at the club should not depend on their performance in Europe.
“There are 10 teams that strive to win the Champions League every season and only one achieves it,” he told Marca. “And then, the other nine who didn’t make it, should we fire their coaches? No.
“It is very difficult to win the Champions League. I’m not going to defend myself, but big European clubs have that goal and they don’t change everything because they don’t win.
“There are several examples. Atlético [Madrid] reached the final twice, and when they did not win, the club continued to believe in [Diego] Simeone and his sports project. The same goes for Pep Guardiola. [Manchester City] have not yet won, but the club still believes in their ideas.
“I think it would be a mistake to change the PSG sports project if the Champions League is not won. I think it’s a process that obviously isn’t meant to take 10 years, but what shouldn’t be is that if we don’t win this year, we’ll change everything.”
Despite being undefeated in six matches, PSG only qualified for the knockout stages for the second straight season, finishing second in the group as Benfica finished first in Group H thanks to more away goals.
Galtier’s side have conceded seven goals – only RB Leipzig (nine) and Eintracht Frankfurt (eight) have scored more against teams that reached the round of 16 – and the head coach insists they need to pull up to start the long game in the tournament.
“We missed too much in the Champions League,” he added. “Obviously, there is a difference in level between the Champions League and our championship. But if we want to go far in the Champions League, we have to improve the level of protection.
“Nothing is easy in the Champions League. In addition, no one took into account the complexity of the calendar this season in the analysis. This is the first time in the history of football with such a compact and complex calendar.
“Almost every week there were Champions League games. I think that’s why some of the teams that used to make it through the group stage didn’t make it through. We played in three and a half months what we usually played in four or five months.”