The title defence rolls on, but, in sharp contrast to 12 months ago, Paris Saint-Germain really do not feel like a team who are bound for the final. The dynasty might just be on pause for this season at least.
If that seems a curious response to a 2-2 draw that took the holders beyond Monaco then ask yourself this question: how different might this tie have been if the young men from the principality had not contrived to get themselves sent off in the critical moments of both legs? For Aleksandr Golovin in the Stade Louis II read the previously exceptional Mamadou Coulibaly.
When he careened into Achraf Hakimi in the 58th minute, Monaco were level in the tie and looked slightly more likely to find its seventh goal. Adi Hutter’s side were doing a little with a lot: purposefully breaking out from their lines of five and four without the ball, exploiting the running power of Folarin Balogun out in the channels and getting players up in support of him. They might not have dominated possession — who does against a Luis Enrique team? — but they were getting into the right spots and doing with an energy that their illustrious hosts could not match.
That is a real problem for PSG, who did get the job done quite swiftly after Coulibaly saw red. Desire Doue’s cross from the byline was turned in by Marquinhos, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia pounced on the rebound when Philipp Kohn spilled a long ranger from Achraf Hakimi: these were partly a reward for the final third pressure the hosts applied with their man advantage but no less a reflection of a young opponent who’d had the stuffing knocked out of them by their reduction in numbers.
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There might have been more in this for Monaco than they realised, Jordan Teze ghosting in at the back post to turn in almost unmarked in a fashion not dissimilar to the opener from Magnes Akliouche. On both occasions, PSG had the numbers to comfortably deal with the situation, and none of them seemed willing to take control of the season.
That could scarcely be a greater contrast from last season, when intensity was the defining trait of this team. Luis Enrique’s men would outrun anyone in Europe, and at this stage, their blend of quality and industry was shining through so clearly against Ligue 1 opposition that you suspected this was a different outfit to the many who had fallen short in the Champions League.
Tonight, you half expected to see one of the old guard ambling around the field out of possession, waiting for the other guys to do the defending and get the ball up to them. It is becoming increasingly clear that PSG relied on Ousmane Dembele for more than just his clutch goals. It is hard to believe that the best pressing Ballon d’Or-level striker of his generation would have allowed Monaco to so easily work their way out of the counter press when PSG frequently gave the ball away in the Monaco half.
The issue here is that the 13 total starts Dembele has made this season is altogether more normal for him than the run of fitness he found 12 months ago. Good squad planning means having good cover for the players you know are most vulnerable. It’s not entirely clear that a front three of Bradley Barcola, Doue and Kvaratskhelia, with Goncalo Ramos filling in here and there, is that.
Dembele is not the only one who is feeling the burn. Fabian Ruiz was missing tonight; it is hard to find a cornerstone of that championship team who hasn’t missed time. And that’s not a surprise. This was a team coached to hit its peak on May 31, 2025. Then they had to play on for another six weeks and seven games. The Club World Cup exacted a heavy burden. Luis Enrique has tried to mitigate that with rest and rotation, but maybe that explains why so many basic passes were going awry.
When they didn’t, this was still a team that could run rings around better opponents than Monaco. There is something irresistible about PSG’s left winger dragging the opposition out of position to create space for an underlapping Nuno Mendes to fizz in a low cross from the byline. Get Kvaratskhelia going at his man, and it’s good night and good luck. Last season, PSG could manufacture those spots a dozen times a night. Now they are flashes of what once was.
What they are now is not a team that exists at the same level as Arsenal and Bayern Munich, the two clear favorites to win this competition. It might not even be enough to get comprehensively clear of Barcelona or Chelsea, the two teams that they could get in Friday’s draw. At this stage a year ago PSG seemed to have the momentum to push themselves to the heights they had always dreamed of. Now they are back to the crushing realities of what a team looks like when it doesn’t have the energy to match its talent.
