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The noise around Mbappe and Yamal frustrates the Paris star: can the Barcelona clash save him?

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia has lost his place in the Paris Saint-Germain starting line-up since the start of the season, with his form dipping. Tonight's Champions League clash against Barcelona offers him the chance to prove himself, just as he has done so often on the big occasions.

His inconsistent displays sparked debate on the "L'After Foot" programme on RMC before the match. The guests posed one question: will Kvaratskhelia once again deliver when it matters most?

Hailed as one of the key architects of PSG's second Champions League title last year, the Georgian has endured a complicated start to the 2026-2027 season. A European showdown against Barcelona arrives at exactly the right moment to measure his ability to respond.

  • A confused head: Kvaratskhelia's inconsistent performances "unacceptable"

    Former Lyon and Saint-Étienne player François Clerc said on the programme on Monday evening: "If Kvara starts the match, he will play a big game. In terms of behaviour, we feel he is playing with a (muddled) head, and that he is not present. We feel a kind of unease. He has produced good matches in the French league, but now he is disappointing anyway."

    Journalist Daniel Riolo, meanwhile, reckons the gap in the Georgian's level between Ligue 1 and the Champions League could become a problem.

    He said: "If he plays (against Barcelona) and as usual (in the Champions League) he is good, then I think the message after a while will be: stop doing that."

    According to Riolo, the winger seems to be picking his matches, shrugging off Ligue 1 fixtures and letting his level swing between the two competitions.

    He added: "We agree that there is a theory of players choosing their matches, and we let it pass quietly because we realised that nobody at Paris Saint-Germain cared about the French league. But this would be a very big thing, in fact too much. In the French league, he really is average. If he is good tomorrow and I were the coach, I would not accept that."

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  • The Ballon d'Or hype may be the cause of the frustration

    Journalist and technical analyst Florent Gautreau believes Luis Enrique may keep Kvaratskhelia on the bench and keep piling on the pressure, arguing the Georgian has not rediscovered the level or attitude demanded of him. Gautreau did, though, predict a return to form. He expects Kvaratskhelia to come back as an excellent player and reclaim his starting spot both domestically and in Europe.

    Fellow journalist and analyst Walid Acherchour, meanwhile, could find no explanation for the dip, and he said: "This year, he did not take part in the World Cup, and he had an ideal preparation, so how do we explain that Kvara, who may be among the top five candidates for the Ballon d'Or, is no longer able, against Strasbourg, to attempt a dribble in a one-on-one situation?"

    Gautreau offered a possible answer: "There is something we underestimated in all our discussions about the Ballon d'Or: when he arrived at the start of the season, he perhaps saw himself as a candidate, but in the big machine of everyone's nomination campaigns (Mbappé, Yamal and Dembélé), he saw that they were no longer talking about him."

    He added: "This is perhaps why his level dropped (because of frustration) while he had been expecting a tremendous start to the season after missing out on the World Cup."

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