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

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.

Bayern Munich have enough talented players to replace injured striker Harry Kane, starting on Tuesday with their German Cup round of 16 tie against holders Bayer Leverkusen, coach Vincent Kompany.

The England captain, who has netted 20 goals across all competitions this season and leads the Bundesliga scorers' list with 14, suffered a thigh muscle injury in Saturday's 1-1 league draw at Borussia Dortmund.

Kane is expected to be out for a couple of weeks but Kompany said he hoped he could still return to action before the winter break starts on Dec. 22. Bayern are top of the Bundesliga with a four-point lead over Eintracht Frankfurt.

"It is difficult to say at this moment but there is a chance for him to still play this year," Kompany told a press conference on Monday.

"But he will miss several games and to replace him, you know you cannot replace the goals or the player one-for-one. That's why he is a top player."

Kompany said players like Thomas Mueller, Serge Gnabry, Michael Olise and Leroy Sane had enough experience to fill the gap.

"We have talent in the team and need to solve it differently. We won't be lacking talent tomorrow but it will look different," Kompany said.

"We have many options. Thomas Mueller, Mathys Tel, Gnabry, Olise, Leroy. I now named almost everyone. Obviously, Harry has scored 20 goals... but we have dangerous players in attack."

Bayern last won the German Cup in 2020 and have failed to get past the quarter-finals since, losing in the second round in three of the past four seasons.

"We play the Cup holders tomorrow. One of the top two or three games in Germany, and I hope our performance will match the importance of the game," Kompany said.

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