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FIFA Bans 4 Uruguay Players over World Cup Incidents

[1/2] Soccer Football - FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 - Group H - Ghana v Uruguay - Al Janoub Stadium, Al Wakrah, Qatar - December 2, 2022 Uruguay's Giorgian de Arrascaeta look dejected after the match as Uruguay are eliminated from the World Cup REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo
[1/2] Soccer Football - FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 - Group H - Ghana v Uruguay - Al Janoub Stadium, Al Wakrah, Qatar - December 2, 2022 Uruguay's Giorgian de Arrascaeta look dejected after the match as Uruguay are eliminated from the World Cup REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo
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FIFA Bans 4 Uruguay Players over World Cup Incidents

[1/2] Soccer Football - FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 - Group H - Ghana v Uruguay - Al Janoub Stadium, Al Wakrah, Qatar - December 2, 2022 Uruguay's Giorgian de Arrascaeta look dejected after the match as Uruguay are eliminated from the World Cup REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo
[1/2] Soccer Football - FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 - Group H - Ghana v Uruguay - Al Janoub Stadium, Al Wakrah, Qatar - December 2, 2022 Uruguay's Giorgian de Arrascaeta look dejected after the match as Uruguay are eliminated from the World Cup REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo

Four Uruguay players, including Diego Godin and Edinson Cavani, have been suspended over incidents following the team's World Cup match against Ghana, FIFA announced on Friday.

The Uruguayan football federation has also been fined 50,000 Swiss francs ($54,248) and handed a partial stadium closure for their next home match over the "discriminatory behavior of its supporters" and the "misconduct" of the players.

Uruguay were incensed by refereeing decisions during their 2-0 win over Ghana in their final group game in Qatar last December.

A three-goal win would have seen them qualify for the last 16 but they were knocked out in dramatic fashion.

Referee Daniel Siebert was hounded by players after the match, while Cavani punched the pitchside VAR monitor.

Defender Jose Maria Gimenez and goalkeeper Fernando Muslera have both been banned for four matches, fined 20,000 Swiss francs and given "community football service".

Veterans Cavani and Godin were given one-match bans each, will have to perform the community service and were fined 15,000 Swiss francs.

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With Mbappe Gone, Misfiring PSG are Under Pressure in Champions League

Luis Enrique's Paris Saint-Germain are struggling for goals in this season's Champions League following the departure of Kylian Mbappe. Christophe SIMON / AFP/File
Luis Enrique's Paris Saint-Germain are struggling for goals in this season's Champions League following the departure of Kylian Mbappe. Christophe SIMON / AFP/File
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With Mbappe Gone, Misfiring PSG are Under Pressure in Champions League

Luis Enrique's Paris Saint-Germain are struggling for goals in this season's Champions League following the departure of Kylian Mbappe. Christophe SIMON / AFP/File
Luis Enrique's Paris Saint-Germain are struggling for goals in this season's Champions League following the departure of Kylian Mbappe. Christophe SIMON / AFP/File

Kylian Mbappe was always going to leave an enormous void when he left Paris Saint-Germain, and the French side are struggling in this season's Champions League without the goals of their former star.
While Mbappe is now at Real Madrid after scoring a club-record 256 goals in seven seasons in Paris, his old club entertain Atletico Madrid on Wednesday in a crucial game in their European campaign, AFP said.
PSG are misfiring in this new-look Champions League, with just four points from three games, despite starting with kind home fixtures against Girona and PSV Eindhoven either side of a trip to Arsenal.
Luis Enrique's team beat Girona 1-0 only thanks to a late own-goal, despite 26 attempts during that game.
That was followed by a 2-0 defeat at Arsenal in a performance which suggested a rejuvenated Paris side are now a long way from being contenders to win European club football's greatest prize.
Then came a 1-1 draw against PSV, another game in which they managed 26 attempts and in which they paid a price for poor finishing.
PSG need only finish in the top 24 places in this 36-team league in order to reach the play-off round, and it seems reasonable to suggest that two wins from their remaining five fixtures may be enough to ensure that.
However, failure to beat Atletico would leave the Ligue 1 champions in an uncomfortable position with their next game away to Bayern Munich.
"It is the worst group," Luis Enrique said after the game against PSV in reference to his team's fixtures, with Red Bull Salzburg, Manchester City and VfB Stuttgart also still to come.
"We need to be prepared to improve what we can and keep going. But yes, it is difficult and of course I am worried."
The Qatar-owned club are coping just fine without Mbappe in Ligue 1, as they sit six points clear at the top of the table having scored 29 goals in 10 matches.
Mbappe netted 44 times in 48 appearances last season, even if he often struggled to produce his best form.
Nevertheless, PSG's difficulties in front of goal in the Champions League date back to last season's semi-finals when Mbappe was still there.
They were favorites to beat Borussia Dortmund, but lost 2-0 on aggregate. PSG had a grand total of 45 attempts on goal across the two legs and failed to score.
Kolo Muani flops
This season they have two goals from 62 attempts in Europe, and will have to be more clinical against Diego Simeone's Atletico, the best defense in Spain.
Bradley Barcola, the 22-year-old France international left-winger, is now PSG's main attacking threat with eight goals this season, while Ousmane Dembele has contributed five from the right.
"We must not have one player on whom all the pressure lies," Luis Enrique said of Barcola last week, although the biggest issue is the lack of a reliable center-forward.
Goncalo Ramos was in line to be the first choice in that position, but he picked up an ankle injury minutes into the campaign and is yet to return.
Randal Kolo Muani was signed from Eintracht Frankfurt for 90 million euros ($97m) at the start of last season but has never settled at PSG, despite producing good form for France.
Things have become so bad for Kolo Muani that he has been an unused substitute in the last two games, and a departure in January looks increasingly likely.
"I count on all my players," insisted Luis Enrique, who has more often deployed either Marco Asensio or Lee Kang-in as a false nine.
In any case, the former Barcelona coach has played down concerns about his team.
"We are scoring more goals, picking up more points, I don't see any problems. There has maybe been one match in the Champions League in which we were not up to standard but we were much better than our opponents in the other two games."
Despite that, the coach and his team will ultimately be judged above all on their results in the Champions League, and the pressure is growing.