Premier League

Where are they now? PSG’s last starting XI before the Qatar takeover

Where are they now? PSG's last starting XI before the Qatar takeover

If you haven’t heard, Paris Saint-Germain have quite a lot of money these days. Even if that news had somehow passed you by, their current front three of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe gives a pretty big hint.

It’s been over a decade since Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) bought the Ligue 1 side, immediately making them by far the richest club in the division. In the time since, eight league titles and 12 other domestic cups have been won.

David Beckham, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting are just some of the superstars to pass through the doors of the Parc des Princes since June 2011.

But what happened to those players who made up the club’s final pre-Qatar XI? We take a look at the XI that lined up against Saint-Etienne in a 1-1 draw on the final day of the 2010-11 season.

GK: Gregory Coupet

In the Coup De France final a few weeks before the Saint-Etienne match, Coupet did his best to be a hero, saving a Mathieu Debuchy penalty. But PSG still went on to lose 1-0 to Lille.

The 1-1 draw in the final instalment of the Ligue 1 season also happened to be Coupet’s final professional match, hanging up his boots before the new campaign. His time at the Parc des Princes was all very underwhelming, coming nowhere near to the glory of THAT double save against Barcelona.

In May 2020, Dijon signed Coupet up to be the club’s goalkeeping coach on a two-year deal.

READ: A love letter to Gregory Coupet and the best save of all time

RB: Ceara

A look at Ceara’s career path paints the picture of a Brazilian journeyman who happened to spend five years in Paris at one point.

Santos, Botafago, Cruzeiro, Internacional; he’s played for them all. But it was his performance with the latter in the 2010 Club World Cup that persuaded PSG to bring him in.

An unspectacular but reliable right-back, Ceara racked up nearly 200 appearances before returning to Brazil in 2012. It is not really known what he is doing at the moment, but in 2014 he made some…

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