Fabian Ruiz highlights PSG's ambitions ahead of big week for European Champions

Fabian Ruiz was certainly not timid when he stated this week what his ambitions were for the following few seasons. Speaking to SO foot, the Spanish central midfielder stated: 'The hardest thing isn't reaching the top, it's staying there. The real challenge for us will be to win the Champions League three or four times. It won't be easy, but who knows. What's certain is that we will try everything we can to arrive there'.

Ruiz's ambitions clearly echo those of his manager Luis Enrique, who has spoken in press conferences already this season about his goal of maintaining PSG's success over the next few seasons.

Fabian Ruiz highlighted PSG's big ambitions this season

It is certainly a lofty ambition: no side has managed to retain the Champions League since Real Madrid's threepeat from 2016 to 2018, but yet again, few sides won the tournament in such a dominant fashion as PSG did last season. And it's fair to say that no team has managed to outplay Enrique's team when they've been at their wonderful best since the turn of the year. Ruiz went on to say: 'The idea now is for this first star to be a turning point. Now that we have one, we have to try to win many more. I think we’ve seen through ourselves that giving our all is the key to success.'

This type of mentality will please Enrique, who has also consistently spoken about the importance of hard work (notably in the notorious behinds the scenes video of him trying to induce Kylian Mbappé to press during the coach's first season in Paris). Now that he has a side who have experienced the pinnacle of success with this philosophy, the players should be 100% on board to repeat this effort going forwards.

Ruiz was speaking ahead of what could be an important week for PSG, as they play a strong Strasbourg side at the Parc des Princes on Friday night. As it stands, PSG are just one point ahead of their Alsacian opponents, whose fortunes in Ligue 1 have improved over the last couple of seasons, following investments from Clearlake capital - who also own Premier League club Chelsea.

This improvement means that PSG will have to be close to their best to get over the line, which hasn't always been the case in Ligue Un this season. The games keep on coming after that, with a trip to Germany in the Champions League up next for the Parisians, as they travel to Leverkusen to face a side whose form has slightly improved since Kasper Hjulmand took over at the helm of the club from Erik Ten Hag.

PSG will hope that some of their key players, notably Marquinhos, Ousmane Dembélé and Desiré Doué will be back for these two games, but whether or not this is the case should be clarified in Luis Enrique's pre-match press conference, due to take place on Thursday.