It has long been said that the 'Holy Grail' for Paris Saint-Germain is to win the Champions League, however, it seems further away than ever this season.
Despite years of huge investment by the club's Qatari owners – and the best efforts of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe – the trophy never reached the French capital.
The new approach, focusing on home-grown players, has not really worked and Luis Enrique's side will enter tomorrow's home game with Manchester City in 25th place in the expanded table. If they finish there after the eighth round, they will be eliminated and the wait will continue for another year.
A look at the remaining two matches shows that this is a distinct possibility.
Firstly, City appear to be back on track after a poor run of results before Christmas. The English champions are in 22nd place and need to achieve victories if they want to secure a place in the playoffs. They thrashed Ipswich 6-0 at the weekend and, perhaps just as importantly, the swagger they showed at Portman Road suggests Pep Guardiola has found a solution and they should finish the season strong.
Next up for City is a trip to Stuttgart, who are fourth in the Bundesliga and will likely be chasing the points.
Paris Saint-Germain vs Manchester City team news
Paris Saint-Germain defender Marquinhos could return from a thigh problem, and Ousmane Dembélé is also fit after illness.
New signing Khvitcha Kvaratskhelia is ineligible.
Nathan Ake missed the weekend's clash with Ipswich due to injury and his availability is unknown. Ruben Dias returned but John Stones remained absent.
Kyle Walker is in the process of negotiating a move away from the Etihad, meaning Matheus Nunes could once again start at right-back.
