PSG, owned by Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), has the advantage of playing in its “second home”, says coach Luis Enrique. The club deployed a veritable armada for the mini-tour it organized, as soon as the destination and date were known after the cancellation of the initial plan in Beijing in August and then the refusal of an offer from Ivory Coast. Having arrived since Thursday, the Parisians have been carrying out training and promotional operations, facilitated by the sponsors they share with the organization of the Champions Trophy. “Everyone knows that PSG and Qatar have good relations, but we are happy to be here and to face Paris at the highest level,” underlined Monaco coach Adi Hütter.
Paris in full
Luis Enrique’s good humor during a mini-press conference on Thursday from the plane was not feigned: the coach asked for nothing so much as to move on to a new stage after a laborious first part of the season, marked by a few internal tensions. PSG certainly dominates the championship, as it demonstrated again against Monaco on home soil, but it is in a 25th qualifying place in the Champions League.
And it is in January that he will have to reverse the trend with his last two matches in the competition that is most close to his heart, against Manchester City on January 22 and in Stuttgart on January 29. “It’s going to be exciting because important deadlines await us,” rejoiced Luis Enrique. “I am very calm, I like what I see, I see improvements,” he added.
The Champions Trophy is in this respect a test, all the more convincing as the Parisian squad is in full force, with the returns from injuries of Gonçalo Ramos and Lucas Hernandez, but also the inclusion of undesirables, before a possible sale, Randal Kolo Muani and Milan Skriniar.
Opposite dynamics
“In January we have seven matches to play, very important, it starts tomorrow, a great victory would give us motivation and courage to face the big confrontations in the second part of the season,” said Marquinhos.
At times very worrying in its sterile offensive sequences, Paris seemed to raise the bar at the very end of 2024: large victory in Salzburg (3-0), but also in Marseille by the same score and against Lyon (3-1) , against Monaco after being led and qualifying for the Coupe de France on penalties in Lens.
Monaco seems caught in an opposite dynamic, after a series of disappointments which made it lose its place as runner-up in Ligue 1 and put it under pressure in the Champions League. This did not prevent the club on Saturday from extending the contract of its coach Adi Hütter for two years.
The Austrian technician estimated that Monaco would have to achieve the “perfect match” to hope to lift the Trophy, with midfield as the “decisive” sector of play in the match. “PSG has one of the best midfielders in Europe,” he praised. While praising the versatility of his, able to operate in possession or against.
