On Tuesday night Paris Saint-Germain and Brest face off at Stade Francis-Le Ble for the first match of their Champions League playoff competition since both teams finished Ligue 1.
The league phase showed PSG and Brest each gained 13 points thus PSG qualified as seed for the Champions League playoffs in the 36-team table through better goal differential.
PSG continues to hunt their inaugural Champions League championship despite owning multiple French national trophies while their average group stage.toString() has generated little confidence toward their seasonal advance.
During the first five matches of season 2024-25 Enrique's team secured a solitary win which placed them in severe danger of an early elimination from the tournament yet they regained their form to obtain three consecutive victories.
After triumphant victories against Red Bull Salzburg and Manchester City and Stuttgart during the last three league round matchdays PSG advances to their first European Cup championship run of four consecutive seasons since 2021 February.
PSG provided their head coach Enrique with a double celebration by winning a crucial Ligue 1 match 4-1 against Monaco right after conclude the league phase while he received his new contract extension.
PSG obtained their fourth consecutive victory across all competitions during their unbeaten streak of 16 matches but the team suffered a defeat in their Champions League match at Bayern Munich.
Eric Roy's Brest were unexpected candidates for a position in the coveted top eight as PSG struggled to pull up trees early in the Champions League. They won three of their first four league games and held Bundesliga powerhouse Bayer Leverkusen to a draw in the other.
Although Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Shakhtar Donetsk all proved to be too formidable for Les Pirates to sustain their incredible European run in the second part of the first round, their elimination from PSV Eindhoven on matchday five guaranteed them a spot in the playoffs.
Until now, no French team had reached the knockout stage of the European Cup in their debut campaign since Nice achieved the feat in the 1956-57 season—the tournament’s second edition. Brest, however, has prepared for their historic match on Tuesday in the best possible way.
Following a 2-1 Coupe de France victory away to Troyes on February 4, manager Eric Roy led his side to a 2-0 Ligue 1 win over Nantes on Friday night. Goals from Ludovic Ajorque and Pierre Lees-Melou ensured Brest remained in the top half of the table.
Despite their strong form, Brest’s most recent home game ended in a heavy defeat to PSG, who cruised to a 5-2 triumph on February 1. That result extended Paris Saint-Germain’s unbeaten streak against Brest to an incredible 30 matches, with Les Pirates failing to defeat the reigning champions since January 1985.
Both Warren Zaire-Emery and fellow adolescent Ibrahim Mbaye are expected to miss out against Brest since PSG confirmed before to the victory over Monaco that they were undergoing treatment for ankle sprains.
The prolific Ousmane Dembele, who scored a hat-trick against Stuttgart and then another brace in the crushing of Monaco—his 20th and 21st goals of the season in all competitions—will be supported by the Georgia international.
Bradley Locko (leg) and Karamoko Dembele (muscle) are now out, and midfielder Jonas Martin is also dealing with a muscular issue and is not expected to join the squad.
