Fired-up PSG aim to retain apex perch with Montpellier win

PARIS: Paris Saint-germain this week averted a crisis by beating Manchester United to revive their Champions League campaign and the club’s followers might even be geting giddy at the possibility of seeing Lionel Messi in the French capital next season.

With Messi having spent the last close season trying to engineer a move away from Barcelona, who are suffering badly from the economic impact of the coronavirus, Neymar perhaps feels a reunion in Paris is more likely than his return to the Camp Nou.

Meanwhile PSG are pondering how to deal with Neymar’s contract, and that of Kylian Mbappe, which both expire in 2022. The Qatar-owned club are also feeling the effects of the pandemic, which has slashed ticket revenue in particular, with games in France being played behind closed doors.

Qualifying for the Champions League last 16 would provide a financial boost. Thomas Tuchel’s team only require a draw at home to Istanbul Basaksehir next week to seal their progress.

“I didn’t come to Paris to play in the Europa League,” Neymar told Brazil’s Esporte Interativo.

However, Tuchel warned: “We have almost qualified, which means we have not qualified yet. That is the reality.” PSG have allowed the chasing domestic pack to catch up. A loss at Monaco and a draw with Bordeaux in their last two matches have let PSG just two points clear of Lille, Lyon, Monaco and Montpellier in Ligue 1.

PSG go to Montpellier this weekend knowing a defeat would knock them off top spot.

Montpellier, though, are without their top scorer Andy Delort ater he tested positive for coronavirus for the second time in three months. If PSG fail to win at montp el lie r they will have gone three ligue 1 games without winning for the first time since April 2019.

French League fixtures (Kick-offs GMT): Saturday: Rennes vs Lens (1600), Montpellier vs Paris Saint-germain (2000); Sunday: Lille vs Monaco (1200), Angers vs Lorient, Bordeaux vs Brest, Dijon vs Saint-etienne, Nantes vs Strasbourg (all 1400), Reims vs Nice (1600), Metz vs Lyon (2000)