Paris Saint-Germain, semi-finalists in last season’s UEFA Champions League, are currently on course for an early exit from this year’s edition.
PSG have just one win in this year’s Champions League campaign, which came courtesy of Paulo Gazzaniga’s late error in the opener against Girona. With just four points from their first five games, Les Parisiens are currently 25th in the revamped ‘League Phase’ of the competition, meaning that, as things stand, they will crash out of the Champions League at the first hurdle.
It puts the reigning Ligue 1 champions under pressure. With three games remaining, they are in desperate need of points. They have matches against Red Bull Salzburg, Manchester City and VfB Stuttgart remaining. Ahead of the first of those matches, in Salzburg on Tuesday, Bradley Barcola (22) has sounded the alarm.
“It is becoming difficult now. We need to win this match and the next three,” said the France international in the pre-match press conference. “We aren’t putting any extra pressure on ourselves but we know that it is now or never,” he added. PSG must finish in the top 24 in order to progress to the next stage of the competition.