With Kylian Mbappe Gone, Misfiring PSG Are Under Pressure In Champions League

Kylian Mbappe was always going to leave an enormous void when he left Paris Saint-Germain, and the French side are struggling in this season’s Champions League without the goals of their former star. While Mbappe is now at Real Madrid after scoring a club-record 256 goals in seven seasons in Paris, his old club entertain Atletico Madrid on Wednesday in a crucial game in their European campaign. PSG are misfiring in this new-look Champions League, with just four points from three games, despite starting with kind home fixtures against Girona and PSV Eindhoven either side of a trip to Arsenal.Luis Enrique’s team beat Girona 1-0 only thanks to a late own-goal, despite 26 attempts during that game.That was followed by a 2-0 defeat at Arsenal in a performance which suggested a rejuvenated Paris side are now a long way from being contenders to win European club football’s greatest prize.Then came a 1-1 draw against PSV, another game in which they managed 26 attempts and in which they paid a price for poor finishing.PSG need only finish in the top 24 places in this 36-team league in order to reach the play-off round, and it seems reasonable to suggest that two wins from their remaining five fixtures may be enough to ensure that.