PSG have no excuse in Champions League voyage after statement win at AS Monaco

Paris Saint-Germain close 2024 with a provisional 10-point lead at the Ligue 1 summit and despite head coach Luis Enrique’s differing opinion, it is difficult to see the French champions throwing away such a healthy advantage over the chasing pack. Les Parisiens saw off AS Monaco 4-2 in a thrilling finale to this year in Le Championnat with Ousmane Dembele scoring twice on top of Desire Doue and Goncalo Ramos goals to ensure that Eliesse Ben Seghir and Breel Embolo’s efforts ultimately counted for little in the Principality on Wednesday.

PSG enter the Christmas period 10 points ahead of Monaco having now beaten Adi Hutter’s side while the gap on Olympique de Marseille and Lille OSC could be the same once their games in hand have been played out while Paris are on Trophee des Champions duty. There is the not insignificant matter of RC Lens away in the Coupe de France this coming weekend which will not be a walk in the park but it is safe to say that things look fairly rosy for Luis Enrique and his players domestically — not that you would know it. “It absolutely is not over,” said the Spanish tactician postgame after Wednesday’s six-goal thriller. “Our lead was only five points just two days ago. Marseille are still there or thereabouts and Monaco is also a very good rival.”

PSG have now beaten all of their top five rivals and have won on the road at Lille, Marseille and Monaco while beating Olympique Lyonnais at home just last weekend so the capital outfit have done the maximum possible to distance themselves from their domestic rivals. With that in mind, there is no excuse for Paris to not focus on January’s crucial UEFA Champions League dates against Manchester City at home but also VfB Stuttgart away given the precarious nature of their continental ranking outside the current top 24 and therefore a knockout place.

Looking at the remaining games between now and then, Lens away in the Coupe de France is a potentially tricky assignment while the Trophee des Champions against Monaco will be a good workout post-winter break but not really a priority outside of the fact that it will be held in Qatar. Projecting towards AS Saint-Etienne at home and Lens away again but this time in Ligue 1, those are two good Championnat challenges and there could be a further domestic cup clash thrown in for good measure depending on how things go up north this weekend.

Dembele, Doue and Ramos scoring is very positive news given PSG’s general struggles to take chances in front of goal under Luis Enrique and the French summer signing’s hot form is such that he is currently keeping the Portuguese hitman out of the starting XI. “It depends for each game,” the Spaniard explained at Stade Louis II. “Everyone is ready and with Goncalo coming back from injury, he is scoring when he is brought on. Desire is starting regularly and scoring so there are synergies and the trend is positive overall.”

It was not all perfect in Monaco with Gianluigi Donnarumma picking up a brutal facial injury in a clash with Wilfried Singo which did not see the Monegasque player dismissed and that injury could now mean that Matvey Safonov is back between the sticks in early 2025. “These things are ugly and tough to really see properly,” said Luis Enrique on the Italian shot stopper’s injury. “There was no real intention to hurt. I never criticize the refereeing because this is a contact sport after all.”

With another impressive away result under their belt, PSG now need to focus on City and Stuttgart in the Champions League if they are to keep their season on track — regardless of the result against Lens later this week. Luis Enrique must tailor-make his plans for each game between now and late January to ensure the absolute best conditions for his players against City as the unrivaled priority given the situation that Paris’ unbeaten Ligue 1 form has presented them with.