Thiago Silva comments on his time at PSG, European failures and animosity towards Paris

Three years since his departure, Thiago Silva has revisited his time at PSG in an interview with The Guardian, reflecting particularly on the Parisian team's failures in the Champions League and the complex relations between the Rouge et Bleu and the rest of France.

As the captain for eight seasons, the Brazilian central defender reluctantly left the capital club after a Champions League final loss to Bayern Munich. In a conversation with The Guardian, the current Chelsea player looks back on his years in Paris.

"We took one step forward and then three back"

"The failures in the Champions League are the result of an overall process. Nothing happens overnight. Just having a lot of money doesn't mean you'll achieve everything. Football doesn't work that way. When you don't have a clear plan of what you want, things don't work," explains Thiago Silva, who doesn't hold back his criticisms of his former club.

In these failures, according to him, PSG failed to learn from them. For the former Milan player, the expression "fall to rise better" seems not to exist in the capital. "Normally, even a failure allows you to progress. We take a step back and then two forward. It wasn't like that at PSG: we took one step forward and then three back. It was really very difficult. The pressure was too strong," he confesses.

"We did nothing to be respected at home"

The 39-year-old Brazilian argues that PSG, since QSI's arrival, made a strategic mistake by alienating the French public. "First of all, you must be respected within your country to be respected outside. We didn't do that. We did the opposite of what we should have done. We wanted to be loved abroad, but we did nothing to be respected at home," he details, before describing the loss of sympathy from the French public.

"In the beginning, media comments were good, and there was a good feeling throughout France to support a French team. But two or three years later, everything changed. The comments were different. It seemed like there was something preventing people from applauding Paris. I still don't know why," the Brazilian international opines.

Thiago Silva concludes his statements about PSG by affirming that his dream was to "win the Champions League," just like "Neymar, Marquinhos, and Verratti." However, that is all ancient history for the central defender, the number 10, and the Italian. Only Marquinhos can still fulfill that dream with PSG.