PSG are better placed than ever to satisfy European obsession | Football

PSG’s dumbfounding defeat to Manchester United in the last-16 of the Champions League last season was among the worst moments in the club’s 50-year history. There is fierce recent competition for that accolade, however, with the 6-1 defeat at Camp Nou in 2017 perhaps even more difficult to stomach. Things are looking better this time around though. As the club look forward to a last-16 tie with Borussia Dortmund, they are better placed than ever before to reach the promised land.

Neymar’s birthday is probably circled in bold red pen on every PSG fan’s calendar. Every year since he arrived at the club his birthday party has been quite the event. The lavish, 300-guest, late-night affair – which usually arrives in the middle of a busy run of games – provides an opportunity for the often fragile relationships between PSG players, coaches and officials to become ever more strained, while also attracting criticism and unwanted attention.

This year, coach Thomas Tuchel, sporting director Leonardo and president Nasser Al-Khelaifi declined to attend given that PSG were playing Nantes in the league less than 48 hours after the soirée began. “It gives the impression that we are not 100% focused and professional,” Tuchel explained.

However, this year’s party became a positive story for PSG. Around midnight Neymar reportedly delivered a speech, saying: “For the first time, I am entirely happy in Paris,” and that he wants to “do everything I can alongside my teammates to win everything this year”. After the transfer tug-of-war between PSG and Barcelona last summer, when Neymar agitated for a move, the sighs of relief were practically audible outside the Parc des Princes.

Neymar’s newfound contentment has been obvious on the pitch for some time. Despite an utterly ridiculous booking following an exchange of words with an official during PSG’s 5-0 win over Montpellier earlier this month, he has quietly (by his standards) gone about hitting his best and most consistent form since arriving in France in 2017.

While Ángel Di María remains the hugely underappreciated creator-in-chief and Kylian Mbappé continues to attract his own headlines, Neymar, when fully fit, has been unstoppable. He has 11 goals and eight assists in his last 11 games and it is clear that genuine chemistry is developing between the “fab four” of Neymar, Mbappé, Di María and Mauro Icardi.

The squad remains cliquey but Tuchel deserves credit for keeping his team together, both sportingly and socially. PSG are a far more tactically versatile, fluid and streetwise unit under the German than they ever were under Laurent Blanc or Unai Emery, who were both far less successful in asserting their authority over an unruly group.

Leonardo – who returned as sporting director last summer – has played his part in achieving some relative calm. His remit extends well beyond recruitment and he has acted as something of a bad cop for Tuchel in issues of discipline, refusing to accept the previously rampant double standards, while also drawing media attention away from the coach and his squad.

“I am going to speak to you in French. If some of you don’t understand me, all you have to do is take lessons.” Leonardo told the squad in July before publicly criticising Neymar for his late return to pre-season. “He was supposed to turn up and didn’t,” Leonardo told Le Parisien. “We are going to look at the measures we can take, like we would have done for all employees.” His deft handling of the Neymar-to-Barcelona saga was also crucial; he played hardball with both the player and the Catalan club, while giving honest assessments of the ongoing situation in the press. Meanwhile, Neymar’s relationship with Tuchel and the rest of the squad remained intact, helping his eventual repatriation.

Leonardo had left the same role back in 2013 under something of a cloud after a lengthy touchline ban following an altercation with a match official. After that PSG lost any semblance of a holistic approach to recruitment. Patrick Kluivert was a disaster as director of football – infamously not even recognising new signing Thomas Meunier when they shared a taxi together – and his successor, Antero Henrique, had a discordant relationship with Tuchel. Expensive transfer failures have been common. Grzegorz Krychowiak (€25m), Gonçalo Guedes (€30m), Thilo Kehrer (€37m), Jesé (€25m) Julian Draxler (up to €45m) and Leandro Paredes (€40m) have all flopped to varying degrees.

Leonardo oversaw much of PSG’s initial rise under QSI ownership, with Thiago Silva and Zlatan Ibrahimovic being two of many marquee additions during his first spell. He is playing his part again this season. Leonardo has listened to Tuchel’s concerns about the balance of the squad and filled key gaps in defence and midfield. Abdou Diallo arrived from Borussia Dortmund to bolster the centre-back position; Pablo Sarabia (10 goals in his last 13 games) joined from Sevilla and added versatility; Keylor Navas is the experienced and consistent elite level goalkeeper the club have long needed; and Idrissa Gueye has finally replaced Blaise Matuidi as a dynamic midfield presence.

Borussia Dortmund – Tuchel’s former club – will give PSG a stringent examination on Tuesday night but, with the three Spanish giants, Manchester City, Bayern Munich and even Juventus all below par domestically this campaign, PSG will be quietly confident about their prospects in the Champions League. Nevertheless, problems remain. Neymar has missed PSG’s last four games with injury and his coach says he “may not be 100%” on Tuesday. Marquinhos, Juan Bernat and Marco Verratti are returning from injury and Mauro Icardi’s stream of goals has evaporated, with just one in his last eight games.

Improvements and problems aside, PSG are still PSG. The mental frailty that has characterised previous Champions League exits still lurks in the background and, as Mbappé’s touchline toy-throwing against Montpellier underlined, things still are not perfect. However, since the Manchester United defeat, Tuchel and Leonardo have quietly begun to mould a well-rounded, astute, harmonious and more committed squad, who are now better placed than ever to satisfy the club’s European obsession. Things might finally be coming together in Paris. Even Neymar is happy.

Ligue 1 talking points

• Yassine Benrahou was instrumental in midfield for Nîmes as they secured their fourth straight victory – a 1-0 win at home to Angers – and climbed out of the bottom three. Les Crocos have been sorely lacking a creative presence since Téji Savanier – the standout player in the league last season – joined Montpellier in the summer. Benrahou, who is on loan from Bordeaux, is just 21 and looks like a real prospect.

• Toulouse are as good as down. They were beaten 2-0 by Nice on Saturday and had two players sent off in the process. The defeat – their 14th in their last 15 league games – leaves them 14 points from safety and 13 from the play-off place. Dijon occupy the play-off spot at the minute but it is tight – they are just four points behind Angers in 14th.

• A much-weakened PSG side prepared for their Champions League showdown with Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday with an eight-goal thriller at Amiens. After being 3-0 down at half time, PSG roared back to take a 4-3 lead thanks to a brace from rapidly developing defensive midfielder-cum-centre-back Tanguy Kouassi. Serhou Guirassy rescued an important point for the hosts in injury time.

• Lyon stumbled at home once more, drawing 1-1 with Strasbourg on Sunday afternoon. The visitors outplayed Lyon in the closing stages, hitting the post twice late on. Even though Lyon enjoyed the majority of possession, they could only muster five shots all game – the lowest they have achieved in the league since December 2016. Lyon are now 11th in Ligue 1; they have not been in the bottom half of the table at this stage of a season since 1997.

Ligue 1 results

Ligue 1 results

Monaco 1-0 Montpellier
Amiens 4-4 PSG
Nîmes 1-0 Angers
Nantes 0-0 Metz
Bordeaux 2-2 Dijon
Toulouse 0-2 Nice
Lyon 1-1 Strasbourg
Reims 1-0 Rennes
Brest 3-2 St Étienne
Lille 1-2 Marseille

Ligue 1 table

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