It could be due to the pressure being less intense or expectations slightly reduced, but Paris Saint-Germain arrive at the semi-finals of the Champions League flying somewhat freely.
A year after Manchester City claimed their inaugural European Cup of the Abu Dhabi era, the club from the French capital are aiming to strike in similar fashion by winning one of their own for the first time since Qatari owners took over in 2011.
Luis Enrique’s team have already sown up the Ligue 1 title — Monaco dropping points last weekend meant that PSG, with three games to spare, are champions for the 10th time in 12 seasons — and with a Coupe de France final booked for late May, there is no doubt that the Parisians are targeting another showpiece at Wembley on June 1.
PSG have not particularly sparkled in Enrique’s first season at the helm. This is a very different-looking PSG team. There are fewer big-name stars after both Lionel Messi and Neymar departed last summer, and the deployment of younger and less-heralded talent hints at the new direction of travel.
PSG have long been known as a domestic bully but without the nouse or poise to quite live it up on Europe’s biggest stage. Their list of dramatic exits in this competition is long and, naturally, such experiences can become self-perpetuating.
A first appearance in the semi-finals in three seasons comes with hope. Only once before have they reached the final: in the pandemic-impacted 2019/20 season when they won a single-legged semi-final against RB Leipzig at a neutral stadium before losing to Bayern Munich.
But this season PSG appear fresh — not as brash yet more self-assured — and are coming good at just the right time. The manner in which they overcame a 3-2 first-leg deficit against Barcelona in the quarter-finals highlights as much.
Going away needing to win was far from the easiest task, and one which PSG have infamously made a hash of before, yet this time they won 4-1 despite going behind on the night too. This may be a less experienced PSG team but also possibly one without the baggage of previous campaigns.
Enrique’s team have lost just once in the league, and that was back in September, while they were defeated twice in the Champions League group stages, away to Newcastle United and AC Milan, but still advanced as runners-up.
Their semi-final opponents, Borussia Dortmund, topped that group with the pair drawing in Germany and PSG triumphing on home soil. A different test awaits Edin Terzic and his players on Wednesday.
“How to stop Paris is not easy,” the Dortmund manager said. “They are currently at their peak and we have to top the performance we showed back then. I think every opponent aims to stop Kylian Mbappe, but that does not always work. We have to prepare for everything.”
Mbappe will certainly be up for the occasion. PSG’s main star is leaving in the summer — with Real Madrid, who are on the other side of the draw, the assumed destination — and being the captain who lifts aloft the club’s first Champions League trophy will be some way to sign off.
Mbappe will have motivation to leave on a high
Motivations abound for the 25-year-old but Enrique’s side are currently showing that they are more than just the Mbappe team. Attacking options have come to the fore in recent weeks as PSG have scored 15 goals in their last four matches.
Ousmane Dembele, Goncalo Ramos and Bradley Barcola were all summer recruits and are finding their feet as the season climax comes.
Dembele has cut a frustrated figure at times, even being jeered for his lack of goals earlier in the campaign, but with four goals in as many games and having made the most assists in Ligue 1 (eight), he is quickly becoming an important part of Enrique’s 4-3-3 setup.
Scoring two against Barcelona, both his and his manager’s former club, may perhaps be viewed as a transformative evening — and one that only grew belief amongst a burgeoning group.
There is a wider sense that things are starting to click for Enrique’s project. The Spaniard’s tactics are working and everyone in this PSG team appears to be on the same wavelength, which is more than can be said for the previously more disparate incarnations.
“Since I’ve been here I have felt the support of the players and the club, we are in a process of improvement,” Enrique said. “This is still only the beginning of this project.
“There is one month before the end of the season and we can still win all four competitions [having already claimed the French Super Cup]; we must manage our emotions well and we must not see pressure as a threat.”
Dortmund famously won the Champions League in 1997 but have not advanced past this stage since the last final staged at Wembley in 2013 when they were runners-up to Bayern.
They are the underdogs once again and could view this as a free hit; few saw them being here during an underwhelming season but they have reached this stage on merit after edging past PSV Eindhoven and Atletico Madrid.
In both ties they made home legs in front of the Yellow Wall at Signal Iduna Park count, that will be the focus again for PSG’s visit on Wednesday.
“In the group stage, we saw a significantly different game against Paris in our stadium. It was a very open match in which we were a bit closer to winning,” said Terzic, whose side are fifth in the Bundesliga and lost 4-1 to RB Leipzig on Saturday.
“We earned this path through difficult opponents. We must not start to over-coach things, but we must have confidence in our strength.”