Monaco lost ground in the race for the 2025 Ligue 1 title on Friday night following a 2-1 defeat at foot-of-the-table Montpellier. The setback ultimately left them in fourth place with 31 points after 18 games – 15 points behind pacesetters Paris Saint-Germain who came from behind to win 2-1 at Lens on Saturday afternoon.
Both Monaco and PSG will feature in the Champions League next week, the fourth game for each club during a punishing January schedule of six games in 19 and 17 days respectively.
In the fixtures played so far, PSG have fared better.
Monaco started their travails on 10 January with a 2-2 draw at Nantes in Ligue 1. They lost their last-32 Coupe de France tie against Reims four days later.
And they went down to Montpellier after taking the lead in the first-half through Thilo Kehrer. But the hosts hit back with a brace from the Jordan international Mousa al-Tamaari.
After beating Monaco 1-0 on 5 January in Doha to claim the 2025 French Super Cup, PSG resumed their Ligue 1 campaign with a 2-1 win over Saint-Etienne on 12 January to restore their seven-point advantage over Marseille at the top of Ligue 1.
Three days later, goals in the last five minutes from Bradley Barcola and Gonçalo Ramos gave them a 4-2 win in the Coupe de France to spare their blushes against fifth tier Espaly and continue the defence of their crown.
On Saturday afternoon at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis, PSG went behind to M'Bala Nzola's goal just before half-time.
But Barcola emerged as PSG's star man. The 22-year-old France international set up Fabian Ruiz for the equaliser in the 59th minute and then fired in the winner five minutes from time to provide Luis Enrique's charges with the victory that took them 10 points clear of second-placed Marseille who host Strasbourg on Sunday night.
Significance
A similar result for PSG on Wednesday night against Manchester City would boost their hopes of advancing to the last-16 of European football's most prestigious club competition.
Under the old format of the Champions League – six games against three other teams in the pool – PSG flourished. They progressed to the last-16 knockout stages every season from 2013 and they reached the final and semi-finals in 2020 and 2021 respectively.
But this year in the reconfigured competition, they have struggled.
With only seven points from six of their eight games, they lie 25th in the 36-team league. They have no chance of surging into the top eight places guaranteeing automatic qualification for the last-16 and they are in danger of failing to occupy one of the 16 slots which lead to a two-leg play-off for a place in the last-16.
Visitors
Wednesday's visitors to the Parc des Princes also languish in the table. They are 22nd with eight points and in need of points to progress.
"We're not running away from the situation," said Enrique of the clash with Manchester City. "We're in trouble because of our performances. But we're prepared and very optimistic about what's to come."
Just before the Super Cup final against Monaco, Enrique said he relished the array of games. "The more matches the better," he told PSG TV. "That means we are alive in many competitions."
A home game against Reims in Ligue 1 comes after the match against City and then a trip to Stuttgart for the final match in the Champions League group stages.
Monaco, out of the Coupe de France and way off the lead in Ligue 1, are in a far healthier state in the Champions League.
They lie in 16th with 10 points from their six games. Victory over the English Premier League outfit Aston Villa on Tuesday night should be enough to carry them into the berths for the play-offs for the last-16.
Slump
But Monaco have not won since beating fifth division Union St Jean in the last-64 of the Coupe de France on 22 December.
"We're not in the best of situations on the pitch," said Monaco boss Adi Hütter. "But we have to stay positive, communicate positively, believe in ourselves and our style of play.
"I've been in this situation in the past and it makes no sense to want to punish players, because it's a young team. It's a difficult phase and I'm not the kind of coach who is going to abandon them."
After Villa on Tuesday and a Ligue 1 game at home to Rennes on 25 January, Hütter's men travel to the San Siro to face Inter Milan on 29 January in their final game in the group stages of the Champions League.
"We needed to beat Montpellier to get our confidence back," Hütter added. "Tuesday against Aston Villa will be a completely different game. It will be the Champions League at home."
Amid the flurry of games, PSG underlined their financial muscle with the announcement on Friday night that they had drafted in the coveted 23-year-old Georgia international Khvitcha Kvararskhelia from Napoli on a four-year deal.
"I know what the club wants to achieve and how it works with players," he told PSG TV. "A lot of great players have played here, so I didn't have to think much about it when I had the opportunity to come to Paris."
