A look back at PSG's 2025-2026 season so far

As we hit the halfway point of PSG's 2025-26 season, let's imagine flashback to August, when there would have been a sense of brewing optimism among all fans of Paris Saint-Germain. PSG’s treble victory last season was accompanied by a free-flowing and technical brand of football that proved highly effective against any European rival (with the exception of Chelsea in the Club World Cup final) and saw them reach a pinnacle of European football that not even superstars like Kylian Mbappé, Neymar or Zlatan Ibrahimovic had been able to help them attain.

A look at PSG's 2025-2026 campaign so far

PSG did start the season somewhat slowly, albeit managing to win their Ligue 1 games (hardly a barometer of success at this point, for PSG), and seemed to step up a gear in the Champions League whenever was necessary, blowing away Bayer Leverkusen in arguably their best performance of the season so far.

In truth, the main theme of this season up to this point has been injuries, with the club sustaining a number of high profile absences, including multiple injuries to key attackers and Ballon d'Or winner Ousmane Dembélé and Désiré Doué. Fabian Ruiz, Joao Neves, Nuno Mendes, Marquinhos and Achraf Hakimi have all also missed significant portions of the season, with what feels like PSG’s strongest team never really being on the pitch at the same time.

Instead, it has been a season of integration: Senny Mayulu, Ibrahim Mbaye and Quentin Ndjantou have all become frequent starters – with Warren Zaire-Emery also featuring more often after having a reduced role last season. All three of these academy ‘titis’ have been trusted by Luis Enrique not only domestically, but also in the big European clashes, away at Barcelona, for instance.

The conundrum for PSG is the following: given that they very seldom need to be truly at their best to win a domestic match, it is quite hard to gage their best level until the latter stages of the Champions League in which they will take part in more consistently high octane fixtures.

One key element of any potential success will be their ability to chase down Lens, who are currently at the top of the French league, as quickly as possible, so that they are able to establish a big lead at the top of the league before the latter stages of Champions League (although it is highly possible that even if they did not do so they would still rotate heavily in domestic competitions).

The current league leaders have had an incredible start to the season, spearheaded by veteran France international Florian Thauvin, but PSG will doubtlessly be expected to hunt them down and overtake them before the end of the season. Their two remaining group stage games, away at Sporting CP and at home to Newcastle, are also both fairly clement and should see them progress through to the knockout stages in a strong position, to avoid a difficult draw in the next round.

Another positive for Enrique, and for PSG fans, is the rediscovery of Matvey Safonov, who has been excellent in the last few games, having come in as starting goalkeeper to replace summer signing Lucas Chevalier. Safonov’s fine display in the intercontinental cup final will be a confidence boost for the Parisians, as he looks to become the final piece of the PSG puzzle.

There is certainly cause for optimism among Parisian fans in any case, as PSG have managed to stay within touching distance of the top of Ligue Un, and look to be cruising through to the Champions League knockouts. Were they to stay slightly more injury free over the back half of the season, another Champions League success surely isn’t entirely off the cards.