PSG vs Chelsea: Will French champions’ easy ride at home make Champions League glory harder?

Laurent Blanc’s side lead Ligue 1 by 24 points, but Jack Pitt-Brooke hears doubts that it is good preparation to face Chelsea

PSG’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic congratulates Angel Di Maria on scoring in a 2-1 win at Marseille, who trail their rivals by 35 points (Getty)

While Chelsea fought for the win that dragged them up to 12th place in the Premier League on Saturday, Laurent Blanc decided to do without the spine of his Paris Saint-Germain team for their Ligue 1 match with Lille. The game finished 0-0, one of the worst results of PSG’s season, not that it mattered.

That was just the fourth draw of PSG’s league campaign. They have won their other 22 games and are 24 points clear of second-placed Monaco, who are themselves nearer the relegation zone – a mere 19 points away – than they are to the Qatari-owned club. It is the most unbalanced league season in modern times in Europe.

It should be no real surprise, too. PSG’s annual budget of €530m (£410m) is more than double that of Monaco and more than three times that of anyone else. They are playing a different game financially, and that is finally being realised on the pitch.

“There are two championships in Ligue 1, one involving PSG, then the other with literally every other team,” says Alex Hayes, vice-president of Lorient. “Any of the other 19 teams can finish second, or bottom. If we won three games in a row, we would be near the Champions League spots. There is a competitive Ligue 1, just not one including PSG.”

This is a unique situation for any of the sides left in the Champions League. Even Pep Guardiola’s Bayern Munich have lost one Bundesliga game this season, and their eight-point lead over Borussia Dortmund looks narrow by comparison.

This is the third year in succession that PSG have drawn Chelsea in the Champions League. Their marketing department is trying to sell it as “The New Classic”, as PSG’s traditional rivalry with Marseille, 35 points behind them, drifts into irrelevance.

The issue for PSG is what this domestic hegemony means for their European chances. It certainly entails that these Champions League knockout games count for more than any number of easy Ligue 1 wins. Nothing Blanc has done as coach will count for as much as his defeat of Chelsea at this stage last year, the first time his side had beaten one of Europe’s elite over two legs.

“That was the birth of this team,” Hayes says. “It was no secret that Blanc would have gone if they had lost. But since then they have grown in stature and belief.” Last Thursday Blanc signed a new two-year contract.

But does this uncompetitive environment help PSG or not? The fact that they were able to rest players on Saturday, which Chelsea could not, must do. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Thiago Motta, Thiago Silva and Maxwell have not played since last Wednesday’s 3-0 cup win over Lyon. With Marco Verratti being carefully managed since picking up an groin injury, they ought to be close to full strength against a Chelsea side that is starting to creak. “That is a luxury that PSG have,” says former Liverpool director of football Damien Comolli. “It will play to their advantage.”

There is a case that winning football is the best preparation, and PSG are certainly in a very good moment, even after the suspension of right-back Serge Aurier. Their level of performance in Ligue 1, both domestic cups, and the Champions League, has impressed many.

“They have managed to create an identity of playing, with high pressing, quick passing, attacking full-backs, the power of their midfield and the genius of Ibrahimovic,” Hayes says. “They are not just winning, as Lyon did in their seven straight titles. They are imposing their way of playing.”

The battle that PSG gave Lorient at the Parc des Princes, on the way to a 3-1 win this month, still stands out. “They are absolute warriors, desperate to win every game, and to never concede any goals,” Hayes says. “They never go through the motions. Robert Pires used to say during Arsenal’s ‘Invincibles’ season that they felt 1-0 up in the tunnel. With PSG it is the same.”

The better PSG play, though, the less incentive their domestic opponents have to commit all their resources against them. Especially at the Parc des Princes, especially in midweek, opposition sides are sparing their most important players an inevitable defeat, to conserve their energy for winnable games. Not just relegation-threatened sides like Guingamp either, but big teams like Lyon too.

What this means is that PSG have very little direct preparation, at least since last year, for facing Chelsea over two legs. They are a better side, with better players, but on Tuesday night they have to find a competitive level that may come easier to their opponents. Teams that flatten their domestic leagues rarely win in Europe.

“The big downside of where they are, when you see them play, is that when it is getting tough, you can see in their body language, and how they react, that they are not used to being challenged,” Comolli says. “Do they think they are better than they actually are?”

Even if PSG beat Chelsea, they know that their financial advantage means they can only make history in Europe, rather than at home. “Porto went through a season unbeaten in 2011, Arsenal did it in 2004, Milan did it in 1992,” Comolli says. “But how good is the competition? PSG are in a unique situation, their turnover is so much higher than Lyon, Monaco or Marseille. That was not the case with Arsenal, Porto or Milan. That is why the league is so poor. I don’t think they have been that good.”