PSG survive against Monaco, but Champions League defending champions look a long way from Europe's best

Paris Saint-Germain’s title defence is still alive after a 2-2 draw saw them edge past Monaco on aggregate, yet the holders left the Parc des Princes looking every inch a side whose best moments may already be behind them this season. Where twelve months ago Luis Enrique’s squad radiated the intensity that carried them toward last May’s final, the current vintage appears to be running on fumes and relying on favourable circumstances rather than overwhelming quality.

The tie turned, once again, on an opposition red card. Just as Aleksandr Golovin’s dismissal in the first leg shifted momentum in the Stade Louis II, Mamadou Coulibaly’s reckless lunge on Achraf Hakimi just before the hour mark here transformed a contest Monaco were beginning to shade. At that stage the visitors were level on aggregate, hunting a seventh goal through Folarin Balogun’s channel runs and a compact 5-4 block that repeatedly sprang forward with purpose. PSG, for all their possession, could not match the visitors’ energy.

Down to ten men, Monaco unravelled quickly. Desire Doue’s low cross was forced home by captain Marquinos, and when Philipp Kohn spilled Hakimi’s long-range drive, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia reacted first to bury the rebound. The goals arrived within six minutes of Coulibaly’s exit, flattering a performance that had previously lacked spark.

Even so, Monaco will lament defensive lapses that saw Jordan Teze left unmarked at the far post and Magnes Akliouche gifted similar freedom for the opener. On each occasion PSG had numbers back but no one seized responsibility, symptomatic of a back line that no longer defends with last season’s snarling cohesion.

The absence of Ousmane Dembele, limited to 13 starts this campaign, has stripped the attack of its relentless pressing trigger. A front three of Bradley Barcola, Doue and Kvaratskhelia, with sporadic help from Goncalo Ramos, offers craft yet lacks the harassing pace that once forced turnovers high up the pitch. Fabian Ruiz’s injury-enforced absence only deepens the creativity shortfall, and the list of unavailable stalwarts has grown as the calendar has lengthened.

Luis Enrique had plotted his squad to peak for the 31 May 2025 final, but the subsequent Club World Cup schedule added an extra six weeks and seven matches. Rotation has preserved legs yet eroded fluency; simple passes went astray under modest Monaco pressure, and the trademark pattern of Kvaratskhelia dragging defenders wide for an underlapping Nuno Mendes surge surfaced only in flashes.

Those flashes remain intoxicating—when PSG click, they can still dismantle better sides than Monaco—but they are no longer the norm. A year ago the Parisians looked capable of matching any European heavyweight; tonight they appear a tier below Arsenal and Bayern Munich, and potentially vulnerable to Barcelona or Chelsea, the pair they could face in Friday’s quarter-final draw.

The dynasty is not dead, yet the defending champions no longer feel like contenders. Instead they resemble a talented squad running low on the very energy that once set them apart, clinging to progress while the continent’s elite accelerate into the distance.