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Right-back Achraf Hakimi (left). — AFP/File
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PARIS: A tumultuous and utterly unbelievable Champions League campaign for Paris Saint-Germain will come to a head if they lose to Manchester City on Wednesday, a result that would leave the French club on the brink of an early exit. .
PSG were handed what looked to be the toughest draw of any team in the new-look Champions League, with Arsenal, Atletico Madrid and Bayern Munich were among their opponents ahead of this meeting with Pep Guardiola’s city at the Parc des Princes.
But a club that is one of the richest and most influential clubs in the world under its Qatari owners has messed things up so far, even as they come to terms with life without Kylian Mbappe. is liable to problems in molding.
Defeated in the semi-finals last season, the Parisians lost to Arsenal and Bayern and suffered a last-gasp defeat at home to Atletico. They were held at home by PSV Eindhoven and only beat Girona thanks to a late own goal.
Luis Enrique’s side have scored just six goals in six games so far, three of them in victory over a poor Red Bull Salzburg side last month. They come into the clash with City — who they have lost four of their last five meetings with — a point and one place outside the qualifying spots for next month’s play-off round.
Failure to beat the English champions will see them away to VfB Stuttgart in their final match of the league stage on January 29, a must win to avoid relegation. To put that into some perspective, PSG have not made it out of the group stage in any of the last 12 seasons since returning to the Champions League following a Qatar Sports Investment switch in 2011.
Their last appearance before that was in 2004/05, when they finished bottom of their group with one win from six matches. However, that PSG was for all intents and purposes a different club to what it is now.
There is no Kvaratshelia yet.
The lack of goals this season is indicative of the fact that no direct replacement was signed for Mbappe — who scored 44 goals last campaign — when the France captain left for Real Madrid.
Goncalo Ramos has missed much of the season through injury and Randall Kolo Mevani has fallen out of favor to the extent that PSG sent the French international out on loan in the January window, 18 months after signing him for €90m. Decided to send ($93.6m) contract.
At least PSG’s domestic form has been relentless, with Saturday’s comeback win at Lens moving them nine points clear at the top of Ligue 1. “We are going into a competition in which we have high hopes,” said Luis Enrique, who will renew acquaintances with his old Barcelona team-mate Pep Guardiola.
The problem is that PSG’s domestic dominance hasn’t always been very relevant in the past when it comes to their results in Europe, rarely a problem before the knockout stages. is
“We find ourselves in this situation because of our performance,” Luis Enrique said of his team’s European warm-ups last week. “But we’re ready and we’re optimistic.” The return of prolific attacking right-back Achraf Hakimi and France winger Ousmane Dembele will be crucial — the latter is ill but has six goals in his last five games.
PSG, meanwhile, 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.
Barkola, 22, has seen his position at left-back under threat following the reported €70m signing of Khvicha Kvaratshelia from Napoli last week. However, the Georgian star is ineligible for the game and cannot even be registered for the match against Stuttgart, so Barkula will get a chance to impress against City.
“He’s having an extraordinary season. We all have faith in him. Luis Enrique said it’s the best season of his career. For PSG, this match could be a season-defining match.
