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There is little to suggest that Paris Saint-Germain are past their glory days – the group that became the first French team to win a treble, led by coach Luis Enrique, are all still in place, even if injuries have hampered their ambitions at times this season. Yet, the reigning European champions return to the UEFA Champions League in the midst of an undeniable skid, pressure mourning on them to change things up as the business end of the season begins.

PSG have just four wins in their last eight, a skid that started with a surprise 1-0 defeat to Paris FC in the round of 32 in the Coupe de France. Since, they failed to land inside the Champions League’s top eight at the end of the league phase and slipped down to second place in Ligue 1 following Friday’s defeat to Rennes. Rough patches like these are few and far between for a team like PSG, who usually cruise through domestic competitions, making the answers to their questions hard to find.

After Friday’s loss, Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembele took a stab at identifying the problem – a lack of unity that brought them together a year ago, one that was easy to spot in the absence of Kylian Mbappe after his high-profile move to Real Madrid the summer before.

How to watch Monaco vs. Paris Saint-Germain, odds

  • Date: Tuesday, Feb. 16 | Time: 3 p.m. ET
  • Location: Stade Louis II — Monaco
  • Live stream: Paramount+
  • Odds: Monaco +550; Draw +380; Paris Saint-Germain -230

“I think we need to show more desire,” Dembele told broadcasters on Friday. “Because if we play as individuals on the pitch it won’t work, we won’t win the trophies we want. Last season, we put the club first before thinking about ourselves. I think we need to rediscover that. We’re in the second half of the season and Paris Saint-Germain should come first, not individual players.”

Enrique played down Dembele’s discontent.

“The players’ statements after the match are worthless,” he reported. “Absolutely worthless. Neither are the coaches’ statements, but the players’ statements are worthless. I’m not going to answer any question from a player, any response from a player. I will never allow any player to be above the club. So, it’s clear. I am the person responsible for the team. I will not allow any player to think that he is more important than the club. Neither me, nor the sporting director, nor the president, nor the club. So, these statements are worthless. They are the result of anger after a match, and I think that’s clear. We have nothing to lose.”

Enrique is arguably right to dispel signs of trouble since PSG, from a statistical standpoint, have not strayed all that far from course. They have held steady defensively over the last eight matches and remain on par with their season-long average of one goal against per game across all competitions. That, though, has not stopped Enrique from making a goalkeeping change midway through the season. Matvey Safonov, Gianluigi Donnarumm’s back-up through last season’s treble-winning campaign, has started the team’s last four games, taking up the role despite Enrique’s bold decision to ditch Donnarumma for ex-Lille goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier. Chevalier, though, had looked out of his depth at times to start his career with PSG and has not played a minute since January 23.

 If anything, the discrepancy is in their attacking output but not in the way one might expect — they averaged 2.4 expected goals per match in their last eight, above their season average of 2.1, but have underperformed in that category considerably by only scoring 1.8 goals per game. That trend was clearly on display against Rennes on Friday — PSG outshot the opponent 22 to 13 while generating 3.58 expected goals to Rennes’ 1.38, only to lose 3-1.

The high-intensity style that made them Europe’s most indomitable team a year ago, allowing them to overwhelm the opposition from the opening whistle, is less of a feature this season. PSG seem a step behind that pace, the demands of soccer’s non-stop calendar perhaps finally catching up to them. They were amongst 12 European teams to take part in last summer’s Club World Cup and made their way to the final before crumbling in a 3-0 defeat to Chelsea, making for an unforgiving schedule. They beat Inter in the Champions League final in Munich on May 31 and were back in action on June 15 for their Club World Cup opener against Atletico Madrid in Pasadena, California. They were in the New York City suburbs on July 13 for the final, only to resume play exactly a month later in Udine, Italy for the UEFA Super Cup against Tottenham Hotspur.

On an individual basis, players seem to be dealing with the impact. Dembele may have 13 goals and eight assists this season but he is behind the pace of his Ballon d’Or-winning campaign that saw him notch 33 goals, instead saddled with injuries over the last few months. His exact availability against Monaco is unclear — he trained on Monday but has reportedly complained about discomfort in one of his legs.

Understaffed or otherwise, PSG’s trip to a middling Monaco side offers the perfect opportunity for the European champions to reverse course — but only they can snap themselves out of the funk they are currently in.