PSG up against it in Champions League as Qatari project risks drifting

PARIS — Paris Saint-Germain have developed a reputation over the last decade as being one of Europe's most glamorous clubs, albeit without ever claiming the Champions League glory so coveted by their Qatari owners.

Now, however, a team stripped of superstars is drifting dangerously towards mediocrity and at risk of an unthinkable early exit from the continent's elite club competition.

PSG are in Austria on Tuesday to face Red Bull Salzburg in what is a must-win game if they are to avoid being eliminated from the new-look Champions League before the knockout phase.

The top 24 teams at the end of the league phase go on to the knockouts, but the French champions are currently 25th with just four points and three goals scored after five matches.

Ten points may be needed to advance and Luis Enrique's team still have tough games against Manchester City and Stuttgart to come, meaning the pressure is on in Salzburg.

Runners-up in 2020 and semifinalists last season, PSG have not gone out of the Champions League before the knockout rounds since 2004/05, when their biggest name was Portuguese striker Pedro Miguel Pauleta.

Since the transformative takeover by Qatar Sports Investments in 2011, PSG fans have become used to seeing glamourous players in their team, from Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Edinson Cavani, to Neymar, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe.

The departure of Mbappe after last season marked a change in policy, with PSG deciding to focus on building a new team with talented but unproven youngsters.

The likes of Warren Zaire-Emery, Joao Neves and Bradley Barcola, all aged between 18 and 22, are now regulars in Luis Enrique's team, while France winger Ousmane Dembele is probably the most recognisable face.

Empty seats 

The change in approach has not stopped PSG from sitting five points clear at the top of Ligue 1, despite drawing their last two matches.

However, their performances in Europe have been sub-standard and often simply mediocre as they have struggled to lay a glove on the likes of Arsenal and Bayern Munich.

Fans are clearly not overly enamoured, with empty seats now a common sight at many PSG home matches at the 48,000-capacity Parc des Princes -- that is especially concerning at a time when the club are looking at the possibility of building a much larger new ground in the suburbs.

Without the explosive pace of Mbappe, the skills of Neymar or the charisma of Ibrahimovic, much of PSG's football under Luis Enrique this season has been one-paced, even boring.

It all raises questions about the future direction for a club that has in recent years established itself as one of the world's biggest sporting brands.

'Solid foundations' 

"Dream less big" said one headline in sports daily L'Equipe last week, in a twist on the club's motto of "Dream Bigger".

"Are PSG beginning a decline," asked another headline in the same publication, and it will be impossible not to believe that is the case if they fail in the Champions League.

"PSG are the team who score the most goals and concede the fewest in Ligue 1. In the Champions League it is more difficult," Luis Enrique said after Friday's 0-0 draw at Auxerre.

"We will go to Salzburg looking to win and score goals. We have no safety net, but that is our aim."

Luis Enrique knows the spotlight will be focused ever more firmly on him if results in Europe do not improve.

There have been reports in recent days of rifts developing between the Spaniard and leading players said to be unhappy with his management style.

There is also uncertainty about the future of director of football Luis Campos, whose contract expires at the end of the season.

However, PSG president Nasser al-Khelaifi is sticking by Luis Enrique, telling L'Equipe: "We have a strategy for the short, medium and long term and I have full faith in the coach and players.

"Our project has solid foundations and we will keep building on those."

Those foundations will nevertheless be far less solid if PSG do not rapidly improve in the Champions League, starting on Tuesday.