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PSG ouster puts coach under heavy scrutiny

Comment: 0 December 15th, 2011 by: admin

PARIS Saint-Germain became the latest side to suffer the bittersweet experience of winning but coming up short in the end.

The big-spending French outfit strung up two goals in the last five minutes to turn back Athletic Bilbao 4-2 at Parc des Princes on Wednesday night.

Unfortunately, the win went to naught as they were ousted from the Europa League, no thanks to Salzburg who pulled off a 3-2 triumph at SK Slovan Bratislava and joined Bilbao as Group F’s qualifiers for the last 32 phase.

The costly exit by the ambitious PSG, who are also trying to acquire David Beckham, also worried coach Antoine Kombouare as pressure over his stay as bench tactician mounted.

Kombouare said that setback was very disappointing as his future is now under heavy scrutiny.

‘We honestly could have gone through,’ he added, “but when your qualification comes down to one game and your destiny is no longer in your own hands, then things become difficult.’’

Despite the 82 million pounds their Qatari owners have spent on new signings at the start of the season, PSG still failed to deliver as they are now out of both the Europa League and League Cup.

A recent meeting by PSG sporting director Leonardo with former Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti has sparked insinuations that Kombouare might be on the way out.

Along these talks, Leonardo denied after Wednesday’s loss that PSG midfielder Claude Makelele would be tapped to replace Kombouare as interim coach before a bigger name is formally appointed.

Leonardo stressed that it is good to talk about the possibility ‘but we never offered him [Makelele] this position.’

The other squads who progressed to the knockout round were Lazio, Besiktas, Wisla Krakow and Steaua Bucharest.

Up for grabs on Thursday are the remaining for slots, while the draw for the last 32 will be held on Friday.

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