PSG coach Enrique faces crucial month in fight for Champions League survival

PARIS (AP) — January could be a crucial month in determining Paris Saint-Germain coach Luis Enrique’s future at the club.

While runaway league leader PSG is unbeaten in domestic competition heading into Sunday’s Trophée des Champions (the French super cup) against Monaco, it is a far different story in the Champions League.

Three defeats in the new-look group format have left PSG in a perilous position, and the ambitious Qatari-backed club faces the threat of elimination.

With only two games remaining PSG is in a dismal 25th place out of 36 teams, with the bottom 12 all going out.

PSG next faces 2023 champion Manchester City at home on Jan. 22 before traveling to play German club Stuttgart the following week.

Those would already be tough games, but they are made even more difficult given the fact that City and Stuttgart are similarly in danger and need victories. City is one point ahead of PSG with eight points and Stuttgart is level on seven.

Stuttgart’s penultimate game is against Slovan Bratislava — which has lost all six matches so far and conceded 21 goals — and so victory there would put it ahead of PSG going into the final round, if Enrique’s side fails to beat City.

City is struggling to defend its Premier League title and European success could prove coach Pep Guardiola’s salvation, so the PSG game is massive for the club.

Defeat may prove costly for Enrique, who is PSG’s eighth manager since Qatari investors QSI bought the club in 2011. In that time, Carlo Ancelotti is the only coach not to be sacked, leaving for Real Madrid in 2013.

The hire-and-fire approach is unlikely to spare Enrique if he suffers the crushing humiliation of being knocked out of the new giant group-stage format of the Champions League — where eight sides qualify directly and 16 reach the knockout phase playoffs.

Modest Lille and tournament newcomers Brest are both in the top eight while 2004 runner-up Monaco is 16th, leaving PSG last among the French clubs.

Whatever PSG achieves in France — with the Ligue 1 and French Cup double a possibility — Enrique will be judged on what happens in Europe’s elite competition.

Fofana’s the right fit for Rennes revival

Seko Fofana looks to be the player Rennes needs to move up the league table.

The Ivory Coast midfield left Saudi Arabia’s Pro League to sign a long-term contract with the Brittany-based club on Wednesday.

With his driving runs and eye for goal, Fofana helped Lens to a second-place finish in Ligue 1 in the 2022-23 campaign, where he was among the league’s best players.

At 29 years old, Fofana is entering his peak years and that sounds like good news for Rennes, which was in 12th place ahead of Friday’s trip south to play Nice.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer