PARIS (AP) — Paris Saint-Germain captain Marquinhos lamented the team's inefficiency and inability to “do things properly” after a 2-1 home loss to Atletico Madrid on Wednesday left it last among the four French clubs in the new-look Champions League.
PSG once again entered the competition hopeful of winning it for the first time, but is now 25th out of 36 clubs after only one win in four matches. The bottom 12 are eliminated after eight rounds.
“We are not improving in terms of efficiency,” Marquinhos told Canal Plus television. “Sometimes when we make mistakes in the Champions League we are not punished for it, but when you have top players in the other team then you are (punished)."
With games against Bayern Munich and Manchester City still to come, PSG faces the worrying prospect of failing to qualify for the knockout round. The top eight reach the round of 16 while teams ranked ninth to 24th go into the knockout playoffs.
“You have to tell the truth, if we want to win games then we have to do things properly,” Marquinhos said in French. "I’ve been here 10, 11 years and I know how we get punished on the small details.”
PSG was a Champions League semifinalist last season, and reached the final in 2020.
By comparison, fellow French club Brest had never even played in any European competition before this season and has a much smaller budget.
Yet Monaco is third and Brest is fourth in the Champions League table and both are unbeaten. Lille, meanwhile, has beaten Real Madrid at home, Atletico away and drawn with Juventus.
While they are exceeding expectations, PSG is falling way short.
After PSG midfielder Warren Zaïre-Emery put PSG ahead in the 14th minute, poor defending gifted the Spanish side an equalizer four minutes later, when Nahuel Molina shot into the top-left corner.
Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak made saves from Bradley Barcola, João Neves, and Achraf Hakimi and — following a last-gasp PSG corner — threw the ball all the way up the field.
Veteran forward Antoine Griezmann collected it on the left and picked out Ángel Correa, who scored past goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma in the third minute of additional time.
“We weren’t in position and they were able to counterattack,” Marquinhos said. “These are things that we need to improve. We have big games coming up and need to get points.”
PSG midfielder Vitinha pointed to missed chances, a recurring theme after the 1-1 draw against PSV last month.
“Small details make the difference and we couldn’t find a way to take the lead," the Portugal international said. “We need to improve how we play and keep a cool head.”
Before the game, PSG's fans in the Auteuil section of the Parc des Princes — which houses the club's ultras — held up a giant banner with the text "Free Palestine."
There was another line underneath in French reading “War on the pitch but peace in the world.” ___
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Jerome Pugmire, The Associated Press
