Prosperous PSG look to be a serious proposition before Liverpool clash

PARIS — The doubts surrounding Paris Saint-Germain’s ability to continue being a force in the Champions League without Kylian Mbappe have been banished in the wake of a remarkable run of form that has the French club perfectly primed for their mouthwatering last-16 clash with Liverpool.

“At the end of the last season, when we looked ahead to a future without Real Madrid-bound Mbappe we could hear coach Luis Enrique asking ‘to do without him we will have to do as a team, and with three, four, five new signings,”‘ was the response.

The Qatari owned outfit had just secured a French league and cup double and reached the Champions League semi-finals in Luis Enrique’s first year as manager, with Mbappe smashing in 44 goals.

Without the captain of France, PSG kept throwing money around during the summer transfer window with Joao Neves, Desire Doue, Willian Pacho and Matvey Safonov coming through the door for big prices.

But the failure to recruit a proven goal-scorer was beginning to look like a misstep as they struggled in Europe and Randal Kolo Muani fell out of favour.

Despite the three goals on Wednesday, PSG had managed only three in their first five Champions League games this season, defeats to Arsenal, Atletico Madrid and Bayern Munich leaving them in danger of elimination before the knockout phase.

But their run in the past three months has been sensational, and the numbers are there to back it up.

PSG have not lost in 22 matches in all competitions since falling to a 1-0 defeat at Bayern on Nov. 26.

They have won their past five Champions League matches and scored 21 goals along the way, 10 over two legs against Brest in the play-off round.

Their 10th consecutive win in all competitions, a 4-1 victory at home against Lille on Saturday, left them unbeaten domestically this season.

“Totally merciless, at times awesome,” was how the sports daily L’Equipe described that performance against France’s other remaining Champions League representatives.

In particular, Paris were stunning in the first-half of that game, and those who have watched the club grow year on year since the game-changing Qatari takeover in 2011 are now asking themselves whether the current PSG team is the best they have ever seen.

That would be a boast, considering the players the club has rolled out over the years, from Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Mbappe to Lionel Messi to Neymar.

“We are in very good shape, it’s all systems go,” said Marquinhos, that club since 2013.

“We really depend on that collective. It has taken a long time. It has been a process, step by step. But there are still areas for improvement.”

Chokers no more?

Ousmane Dembele is the focal point of the PSG attack, and after going from a rollercoaster of a runaway winger unable to score goals for his life, to one of the most deadly strikers on the planet.

He has 26 goals this season — 21 in 16 appearances since mid-December, and mostly playing centrally.

Last season, in support of Mbappe, he only managed six goals. Bradley Barcola, meanwhile, has jumped from five goals in total last season to 17 so far this.

The only question in an established team, and a fully-fit group, is who will be in attack in the kick-off at the Parc des Princes for Wednesday’s first leg.

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia is still getting acclimated after joining Napoli in January, so Doue might earn a start.

The 19-year-old winger, who can also be found playing as No. 10, has something of Neymar in him and has contributed to 16 goals — scored or assisted — since mid-December.

“The team is going through a good patch,” Luis Enrique said, but he is as fearful as anyone of Liverpool, who will be a level above anything PSG has faced in recent months.

PSG have endured the heartbreak of choking in big Champions League games more than once in the last 10 years, but perhaps this time, against the team that finished top in the league phase, it will be different?

“We are going to play against the best team in Europe, which qualified magnificently, but it is not our mentality to speculate, to try to protect ourselves, to guard ourselves,” Luis Enrique insisted.

“We are going to attack and try to make it our game.”