PSG return to Parc des Princes to face Monaco after turbulent start

“It’s like we’re at school,” Luis Enrique quipped as he entered the press conference room, hearing the journalists respond in unison to his hearty bonjour.

His remark was fitting on the eve of Paris Saint-Germain’s first home match of the season, which lines up nicely with France’s rentrée, the term for the nationwide return to school and the office at the start of September. Although the new campaign is in full swing by now, the team have had to wait several weeks before making their return to the Parc des Princes, where they welcome second place Monaco on Friday night.

The league champions were due to start the season by hosting Rennes on the first day, but successive heatwaves over the summer had damaged the Parc des Princes pitch to the extent that the match was instead moved to Brittany. Rennes were also hoping to host the return match in March as scheduled, but the league authorities instead switched the two fixtures around in the calendar.

This year’s rentrée has not exactly seen a swift return to business as usual for the perennial Ligue 1 champions. Since beating Aston Villa to retain the Uefa Super Cup last month, PSG have lost the Trophée des Champions to Lens and drawn their first two league matches.

Late comebacks in the latter two fixtures have helped paper over the cracks of unconvincing displays against the league’s middle powers. A late double from Ferran Torres on debut rescued a point against Rennes, while a Vitinha-led revival saw PSG claw back a similar deficit in stoppage time in Lille.

“We’ve had less of a pre-season, so it’s been difficult,” summer signing Lucas Digne explained on Thursday after an open training session. “It’s not an excuse, but it’s an assessment.”

Admittedly, PSG’s first four domestic opponents of the season will have all been teams involved in Europe. “It hasn’t been the easiest combination of matches,” the head coach, Luis Enrique, said in his press conference later in the day. “But we’ve had to accept it and prepare for them.”

PSG now habitually click into gear mid-season, once the Champions League knockouts begin to appear on the horizon. A defeat to Monaco on Friday, though, could spark a minor crisis and precipitate the need for the team to be back at their full powers.

In any case, Luis Enrique was cryptic when asked about when his team would be at their best: “It depends on a lot of factors which are out of my control,” he said. “My job is just to find the best 11 players for each match.” The fact that his reigning champions are winless in three has ostensibly done little to dampen the 56-year-old’s optimism for his fourth season in charge.

“Do you think that losing tomorrow means we’re out of the title race?” Luis Enrique asked reporters on Thursday afternoon. “Our aim will be to beat a team that we lost to at home last season. It won’t be easy, especially considering they have a manager in Filipe Luís who takes a brave approach.”

The Spaniard was also keen to stress the minor squad overhaul which took place over the summer. “We haven’t sold any of the players who started the Champions League final and we’ve bought some young players. We’ll have to wait and see what they can bring.”

While the starting XI that retained the Champions League title remains intact, Les Parisiens have replaced most of the supporting cast. All of Gonçalo Ramos, Lee Kang-in, Bradley Barcola and Ibrahim Mbaye have moved on, amounting to over €300m (£258m) in sales. Torres, Maghnes Akliouche and Mika Godts make up the reigning champions’ new frontline depth options, with Digne being the other senior arrival.

“Those players were important in our quest for trophies, but we needed new energy in the team,” Luis Enrique said.

For the head coach, the toughest departure to make up for will be Bradley Barcola’s. The French international’s move, Luis Enrique explained, was a “special case”, given that he “grew a lot and helped the team grow” during his three years in the capital.

“He wanted to have a greater role in the team, and that’s not something I’m able to guarantee to any player,” the Spaniard said. “He was an important player and a great person, his teammates loved him. It was his decision and we have to accept it, I wish him all the best.”

The prospect of playing under Luis Enrique was seemingly the primary attraction for the summer arrivals, all of whom spoke to the press during Thursday’s open day at the club’s training ground.

“He was like a footballing father to me when I played for him in the national team,” Torres said of his compatriot. “He believed in me and wanted to bring me here, so I want to repay that confidence,” the former Barcelona man added, before stressing that he would be content to play wherever the head coach needed him. “He gives the front three a lot of freedom to move around, which makes things difficult for our opponents.”

“He’s a great coach, so I was happy to hear that he wanted me here,” Godts said. “He likes players who are versatile, and I’m ready to play anywhere, that’s not an issue,” the Belgian winger continued, “I’ll play on the left, on the right, as a No 10, even as a No 9.”

Monaco, although rocked by a chaotic end to the transfer window, are shaping up to be the sternest of PSG’s early-season tests. They are the only team in the league yet to drop points, and saw off Marseille last week with a double from the early-season breakout star Paris Brunner.

As they prepare to take to the brand new Parc des Princes pitch, it would be difficult to imagine a more enticing opponent to mark the rentrée at home for Luis Enrique’s new and old students.