Mbappe and PSG face fight to keep Champions League dream alive
The spectre of another disappointing exit from the Champions League hangs over Paris St Germain after a 3-2 first-leg defeat at home left them with a fight to turn around their quarter-final tie against Barcelona in Tuesday’s return.
At first, nobody realistically expected this PSG side, in transition with a rejuvenated squad following last year’s departures of Lionel Messi and Neymar, to go on and win the Champions League this season.
But the realisation that Kylian Mbappe would not be staying beyond the end of his contract after this campaign helped concentrate minds, with the superstar forward informing the club of his plans after the win over Real Sociedad in the last 16.
Then came the draw for the last eight and semi-finals, which presented the French champions with a favourable path to reach the final.
Luis Enrique’s side, who had been unconvincing in scraping through their group but came into the first leg against Barcelona on a 27-game unbeaten run stretching back five months, were saved from any prospect of meeting Manchester City, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich or Arsenal before the final.
Victory against a Barca side who are not the force of old would set up a last-four tie against either Atletico Madrid or Borussia Dortmund, the kindest draw possible even if neither team could ever be taken lightly.
However, PSG’s performance against Barcelona last Wednesday made clear Luis Enrique’s side are far from the complete team, and their most important player is not in his best form.
Mbappe has scored 39 goals this season and the
Parisians need him on his game if they are to go all the way and end the France captain’s seven-year stay at the club by winning European football’s greatest prize for the first time.
But Mbappe did not play well in the first leg against Barca, failing to hit the target from three shots, losing the ball 13 times and being caught offside three times.
Mbappe, however, scored a hat-trick in his last visit to Barcelona, in 2021, and Barca manager Xavi Hernandez said that his side will need to be nearly flawless in the second leg at the club’s temporary Olympic Stadium home on the city’s Montjuic hill to reach the semi-finals for the first time in five years.