Konstruct Telemedia

Paris Saint-Germain continue their quest for an 11th Ligue 1 title in 13 years on Sunday at Lyon buoyed by progress into the last-16 of the Champions League. Luis Enrique’s men reached the knockout stages after beating Brest 10-0 on aggregate over two legs in the play-off round – an innovation of this season’s new format.

PSG followed up their 3-0 romp past Brest on 11 February at the Municipal Du Roudourou with a 7-0 annihilation on 19 February at the Parc des Princes.

“The scoreline hurt,” said Brest coach Eric Roy after the mauling which terminated with severe prejudice the club’s first foray into European club football’s most prestigious competition.

“We really didn’t want to end our adventure this way,” he added. “We were hoping to try and come back into the tie but PSG  were far superior.”

Gone are the Champions League days of eight pools of four teams where the top two progress to the last-16.

The new era offers a division comprising 36 teams who play eight matches against various opponents. The top eight qualify automatically for the last-16. Those from ninth to 24th battle home

and away for the remaining eight slots.

Roy’s charges reached the play-offs after finishing the group stages in 18th position. PSG completed their group stage campaign in 15th. 

It wasn’t supposed to be that way for PSG’s billion euro project. Poor marksmanship in the game against PSV Eindhoven and Atletico Madrid coupled with simple blunders against Bayern Munich left Enrique’s side outside the berths for the play-offs. After six games they had mustered seven points. 

But after coming back from 2-0 down against Manchester City to win 4-2 in their penultimate game and a straightforward 3-0 whirl in Stuttgart in the group stage finale, PSG managed to scramble up the table.

Draw

Drawn against their fellow travellers from Ligue 1, PSG’s place seemed assured in the last-16 from the moment Ousmane Dembélé scored their second goal in the first leg on the stroke of half-time.

“When you win the first leg, the second leg can be something of a banana skin,” Enrique said after his team’s progress. “But once we got the first goal at the Parc des Princes that put Brest on the back foot and that gave us an easier second-half.”

PSG were rewarded with a last-16 tie against Liverpool following the draw in the Swiss city of Nyon on Friday afternoon at the headquarters of the competition organisers Uefa.

Brest, who are ninth, return to Ligue 1 duties on Sunday afternoon against seventh-placed Strasbourg before entertaining second division Dunkerque on 26 February in the quarter-finals of the Coupe de France.

“What’s important is what’s going to happen in the future,” said Roy. “We’ve got a lot of great things to do and we’re going to keep working. Sometimes we fall down, and then we have to know if we’re capable of getting back up again.

“What the players have experienced in the Champions League this season is quite unique, so it has to be positive, an extra motivation to get back there.

“If the boys want to get back to these kind of European jousts, they’re going to have to bounce back and that means good results from this weekend onwards in Ligue 1.”

Monaco boss Adi Hütter issued the same challenge to his players after they went out to Benfica at the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon.

Challenge

Unlike Brest, Monaco do not have the distractions of the Coupe de France and, lying fourth after 24 games with 40 points, are in a better position to return to next season’s Champions League.

“We can learn a lot from this level of competition,” said Hütter following the 3-3 draw which furnished Benfica with a 4-3 aggregate success and a clash with Barcelona in the last-16.

“Against Benfica we made too many mistakes that are easy to avoid,” Hütter lamented. “But on the other hand we also put them under a lot of pressure. We were strong on that front and we must learn from this elimination.”

Hütter added: “For the youngsters in the team it’s a great experience. What I saw during the game in Lisbon makes me really proud, and it’s a promise for the future.”

A test of that mettle will come at Stade Pierre Mauroy on Saturday afternoon in the game against Lille who sit two points behind Monaco and are also pushing for one of the slots leading to next season’s Champions League.

Their prize for finishing seventh in the group stages in this season’s competition was a tie with the 2024  beaten finalists Borussia Dortmund.

Niko Kovac, the boss of the German outfit, reacted soberly to the draw with Bruno Genesio’s charges.

“Lille will be a serious proposition,” said the 53-year-old. “I know the French top flight and I know the quality of this club.

“When I was boss at Monaco, Lille won the title. Of course, some of those players have left but there are still good players there and they have a good coach.

“They beat some good teams in the group stages to qualify automatically. We’re not going to be in for two easy games.”

Just after scoring a hat trick to dispatch Manchester City from the competition, France skipper Kylian Mbappé said he would prefer his Real Madrid side to meet city rivals Atletico rather than Bayer Leverkusen in the last-16

“Both would be difficult games,” Mbappé told Spanish broadcaster Movistar. “So it’s better to have a difficult game without having to travel.”

And voilà. Mbappé’s wish was granted. Leverkusen will take on fellow Germans Bayern Munich. In other ties Arsenal will meet PSV Eindhoven, Club Brugge will play Aston Villa and Feyenoord will battle with Inter Milan in ties to be played during the first two weeks of March.

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