Paris Saint Germain

1st August 2016. By Edward Stratmann.
After enduring a 2016 littered with controversy, Serge Aurier's got a lot of making up to do in order to regain the faith of his PSG teammates and the club's supporters.

All his troubles began in February when an ill-advised live question-and-answer session on Periscope surfaced that showed him making derogatory comments against the coach at the time, Laurent Blanc, and some of his colleagues, including star men Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Angel Di Maria. A subsequent six match ban rightfully followed and the 23-year-old was forced to issue an apology. It read: "I want to apologise especially to the coach, I can only thank him for all he has done for me since I arrived in Paris. He wanted me and since I came here everything has gone really well. I owe him a lot and that is why I apologise sincerely to him for what was said, which I deeply regret."

"I will accept any sanction the club impose on me regarding this incident. I made a

27th July 2016. By Ryan Baldi.
In four years with Paris Saint Germain, Zlatan Ibrahimovi? helped Les Parisiens win Ligue 1 four times, the Coupe de France twice and the Coupe de la Ligue three times. The charismatic Swede netted 156 goals in 180 appearances for PSG to become the club's all-time highest scorer. And last season, despite turning 34 in October, Ibrahimovi? broke the 50 goal barrier for the first season in his career.

Ibrahimovi?'s arrival in Paris in 2012 was the first major signifier that the club's Qatari owners were deadly serious about their ambition of turning PSG into a global force, one comparable to Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Bayern Munich.

Granted, the previous season they had signed Argentinian playmaker Javier Pastore for €39.8 million from Palermo, and they were already major players in the Ligue 1 title race. But the arrival of Ibrahimovi? for €20 million from AC Milan marked the first occasion that Les Rouge et Bleu's

27th April 2016. By Karl Matchett.
Paris Saint-Germain have already been linked in the global media with potentially pursuing a change in their management over the summer months, with Laurent Blanc having failed to mastermind a challenge on the UEFA Champions League this season once again.

Whether the French club do decide to dispense with the current boss or not, there is still likely to be an overhaul in one particular area of the playing staff: the attacking line, which has already lost one component and could see another two parts depart Paris this summer. Zlatan Ibrahimovic is out of contract and has given no assurances that he'll remain in place, while Edinson Cavani has been strongly linked with a move away after two years of playing on the flank rather than centrally. Add in Ezequiel Lavezzi's mid-season departure and PSG will clearly have spaces in attack to fill, as well as potentially three big wages off their payroll.

With that in mind and considering

20th April 2016. By Karl Matchett.
Hundreds of millions of euros spent in transfer fees and wages and numerous changes to playing and coaching personnel have given Paris Saint-Germain double the number of Ligue 1 titles in the last four years as in the rest of the club's history combined-but absolutely nothing to celebrate on the European stage.

Countless international starters have been signed, some at overinflated prices, along with a handful of the biggest names in the game: Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Angel Di Maria, Thiago Silva. These are not merely good players, but genuine top-tier talents, players who should be capable of winning the UEFA Champions League...or at least going close.

The margins can be fine between success and failure in the latter stages, but four years of reaching the quarter-finals and not really threatening to go beyond looks as though the club's bankrollers, Qatar Sports Investments, have had enough. Laurent Blanc's job is in

19th April 2016.
Not too long ago, we were speculating about Barcelona winning a second treble in a row, or about Paris Saint Germain taking what they've done in France the last few years and translating it into their first-ever Champions League win. Both of those narratives were dashed against the rocks in the quarterfinal rounds, where Barcelona crashed out of the 2015/16 Champions League in jarring fashion and where PSG fell in an upset to Manchester City.

Now, with just four teams and two rounds remaining in the competition, the stakes have been ramped up another few notches. What happened for the UCL's once-guaranteed frontrunners, and what's next for Europe's most prestigious club football tournament? Read on to find out.

Barcelona's Downfall

Heading into the quarterfinals, FC Barcelona seemed like the safest of bets to charge right on through to the semis. After all, Barca have advanced to the semifinals

10th April 2016. By Edward Stratmann.
PSG's monumental Champions League quarter-final clash with Manchester City presented Adrien Rabiot with the perfect chance to show how far he's come since first joining the Manchester club as a 13-year-old.

Having spent just six months with City, Rabiot's defiant mother, Veronique, decided she wasn't impressed with the way the club was handling her boy and made the call for him to return home.

Once back in France, after spells with small outfits, Pau and Pole Espoirs de Castelmaurou, PSG, well aware of his obvious talent, offered him the chance to join their prestigious academy aged 15. Unsurprisingly, he didn't hesitate in accepting their invitation.

The manager in charge at the time was Carlo Ancelotti, and he immediately recognised the immense talent of Rabiot and, only a year after he'd arrived, duly promoted him to train with the

22nd March 2016
On March 18^th, the UEFA officially announced the draw for the Champions League quarterfinal round. For the most part, the matchups for the next round of Europe's most prestigious soccer tournament look to have clear favorites. However, as we saw from the semifinals-where Bayern Munich of all teams had to win their second leg match in extra time-there is no such thing as a sure thing in this ultra-competitive tournament.

The lineup for the quarterfinals shows beyond a doubt that the La Liga is the strongest league in European football right now. The Spanish top-flight accounts for three of the eight quarterfinal spots, with FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Atletico Madrid all earning spots. Two Bundesliga teams are also in the mix (Bayern Munich and Wolfsburg), while England, France, and Portugal grabbed one slot apiece (for Manchester City, Paris

Looking at recent domestic league statistics, it would be easy to put Paris Saint Germain on the shortlist of European football powerhouses. The soccer club has won three consecutive titles in France's Ligue 1 and could more or less coast to another in the 2015/16 campaign. That dominance is similar to what Bayern Munich have managed in Germany, or what Juventus have orchestrated in Italy, and we all know that those two teams are probably in the top five for all of Europe's soccer clubs.

No European Titles

Unlike Bayern Munich and Juventus, though, there is some question about whether or not PSG have what it takes to compete with the top European clubs. Both Bayern and Juve have won the Champions League title before-Bayern five times and Juventus twice. In addition, both clubs have experienced great success at the tournament recently. The

After a more than two-month break, the UEFA Champions League has resumed with the first leg of the round of 16. For Chelsea FC, the return to the high-profile tournament was something of a moment of truth. Despite a dismal autumn performance in the English Premier League, the Blues managed to fight their way to the top of their group in the Champions League, winning four of their six games and edging out Dynamo Kyiv, Porto, and Maccabi Tel Aviv for the honor. Sure, Chelsea's group, Group G, was one of the easier ones in the competition, but in a period where any win was a landmark for the football club, qualifying for the round of 16 was nothing short of a miracle.

Theoretically, winning their group should have given Chelsea an easier draw for the round of 16. Instead, the Blues were drawn against reigning French champs, Paris Saint Germain, who finished second to Real Madrid in Group A. PSG have been borderline unstoppable in the Ligue 1 this season and are widely expected to win

Are we witnessing the birth of a new football superpower? Just a few years ago, Chinese league football play was little more than a footnote. With the Premier League, the La Liga, the Bundesliga, the Serie A, and the Ligue 1-not to mention other increasingly competitive divisions like the Dutch Eredivisie-what was there to draw players to China? And without the star players, what did China have to draw international audiences?

In the past few weeks, though, it's become clear that ignoring the Chinese Super League might not be an option for much longer. This week alone, there are numerous high-profile headlines pertaining to Chinese football. There's the Daily Star article about how current Paris Saint Germain star (and major Chelsea target) Ezequiel Lavezzi could make a move to China at the end of the season, instead of moving to the Premier League. There's the Telegraph piece about how Chinese President Xi