Paris Saint-Germain’s faltering and not entirely convincing Champions League campaign will reach its climax if they lose to Manchester City on Wednesday, a result that would leave the French club teetering on the brink of an early exit. Paris Saint-Germain were handed what looked like the toughest draw of any team in the new Champions League, with Arsenal, Atletico Madrid and Bayern Munich among their opponents before this encounter with Pep Guardiola’s City at the Parc des Princes.
But the club, which is one of the richest and most influential clubs in the world under the leadership of its Qatari owners, is still in disarray until now, even taking into account the difficulties of adjusting to life without the departure of Kylian Mbappe.
After losing in the semi-finals last season, the Parisians deserved to lose away to Arsenal and Bayern Munich and succumbed to a last-gasp defeat at home to Atletico.
They were drawn at home to PSV Eindhoven and only got the better of Girona thanks to a late own goal.
Luis Enrique’s side have scored just six goals in six matches so far, three of which came in an away win over a poor Red Bull Salzburg last month.
They go into the clash with City – against whom they have lost four of their last five meetings – and sit one point and one place outside the qualifying places for next month’s qualifying round.
Failure to win against the English Premier League champion will result in him playing his final match in the league, away to Stuttgart on January 29, and he will have to win to avoid exit.
To put that in some context, PSG have not been eliminated from the group stage in any of the past 12 seasons since their return to the Champions League following the transformative takeover of Qatar Sports Investments in 2011.
Before that, their last appearance was in the 2004/05 season, when they finished last in their group with one win in six matches.
However, PSG was, for all intents and purposes, a different club than it is now.
There are no penances yet
The lack of goals this season is underscored by the fact that no direct replacement for Mbappe – who scored 44 goals last season – was signed when the France captain left for Real Madrid.
Goncalo Ramos has missed much of the season through injury and Randall Kolo Mwani has fallen out of favor so far that Paris Saint-Germain decided to send the France international out on loan in the January window, 18 months after signing him for €90 million (a deal worth $93.6 million).
At least Paris Saint-Germain’s domestic form was solid, with a win over Lens on Saturday putting them nine points clear at the top of the French league.
Luis Enrique, who will renew his acquaintance with his old Barcelona colleague Pep Guardiola, said: “We are in a good dynamic before a tournament in which we have a lot of hope.”
The problem is that PSG’s domestic dominance has not always proven to be of much importance in the past when it comes to their results in Europe, and is often disappointing if rarely a problem before the knockout stage.
“We found ourselves in this situation because of our performance,” Luis Enrique said of his team’s European troubles last week. But we are ready and optimistic.”
The presence of impressive attacking right-back Achraf Hakimi and French winger Ousmane Dembélé will be key – the latter having been ill but scoring six goals in his last five games.
Meanwhile, PSG must hope that Bradley Barkola’s match-winning performance last weekend is a sign of better things to come from a player who has not scored in the Champions League this season.
Barkula, 22, was under threat in his position on the left wing after signing Hvicha Kvaratskhilia from Napoli last week for €70 million.
However, the Georgian star is not eligible for this match and cannot be registered for the match against Stuttgart either, so Barkula will have his chance to shine against City.
Luis Enrique said: “He is having an exceptional season. We all trust him. This is the best season of his career.”
For Paris Saint-Germain, this could be the match that defines the season.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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