PSG feeling pressure as Champions League playoff against Monaco looms
PARIS (AP) — Paris Saint-Germain is under pressure for the first time this season and tensions have started appearing.
After failing to qualify automatically for the last 16 of the Champions League, last year’s winner faces a playoff against Ligue 1 rival Monaco.
PSG heads to Monaco for Tuesday’s first leg on the back of a 3-1 defeat at Rennes, which allowed Lens to reclaim top spot in Ligue 1.
PSG is also out of the French Cup and has lost six games overall this season.
The Rennes defeat prompted PSG’s Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembélé to question the attitude of his teammates.
“I think we need to show more desire,” he said. “Because if we play as individuals on the pitch it won’t work, we won’t win the trophies we want.”
Without giving names, he suggested some players are putting themselves first.
“Last season we put the club first before thinking about ourselves. I think we need to rediscover that,” Dembélé added. “We’re in the second half of the season and Paris Saint-Germain should come first, not individual players.”
Dembélé’s comments led coach Luis Enrique to issue a stern reminder about keeping a united front.
“I will never allow any player to be above the club,” he said. “I am the person responsible for the team.”
Luis Enrique’s strong man-management has helped PSG become a far more unified team. He made it clear that, unlike previous seasons, there would be no pampered players.
Dembélé found that out the hard way, when Luis Enrique dropped him for a Champions League game at Arsenal early last season on disciplinary grounds.
It worked as Dembélé went on to score 35 goals overall and help PSG win the Champions League for the first time.
PSG’s surge to the title was largely unexpected — as was Dembélé’s suddenly prolific scoring — and the element of surprise has now gone.
Too many games?
Last season stretched until the Club World Cup final in mid-July and saw some PSG players appear in more than 60 games.
The team’s high-octane style and incessant closing down demands a lot. Perhaps as a consequence, and with little recovery time over the summer, the club has been hit by injuries to key players throughout this campaign.
Dembélé has not been able to form the same understanding in attack with Désiré Doué, with both players being injured twice.
Luis Enrique also seems uncertain on his best goalkeeper, which does not help the defense.
Chevalier vs. Safonov
Last season’s Champions League success was helped by spectacular shot-stopping from goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma in the knockout rounds.
But Luis Enrique decided, perhaps surprisingly, to recruit Lucas Chevalier from Lille despite his lack of experience compared to Donnarumma, a European Championship winner with Italy who made 251 appearances for AC Milan before joining PSG.
Donnarumma is now with Manchester City.
Chevalier impressed for Lille last season and was considered by Luis Enrique to be better at passing from the back than Donnarumma, which gives PSG options to attack from deeper and keep more control of possession.
Yet Chevalier has looked out of his depth at times and lost his place to Matvei Safonov, who was Donnarumma’s backup last season.
Monaco improving
PSG reached the last 16 last season by beating French side Brest 10-0 over two legs.
It promises to be a harder test against Monaco, which beat PSG earlier this season in Ligue 1 and is improving in defense, with four clean sheets in the past six games.
Coach Sébastien Pocognoli is waiting on the fitness of attacking midfielder Maghnes Akliouche, midfielder Lamine Camara and goal-scoring winger Ansu Fati. ___
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