Softfootball agrees to the analogy that Paris Saint-Germain players are part-time players. Don’t misunderstand, we don’t mean proper part-time players, we mean they have fewer minutes and are most likely rotated to play only important matches, especially in the UEFA Champions League.
The PSG players play very few full matches and rest to preserve themselves for the big Champions League matches, and we can clearly see it. The number of matches they have played in the Champions League is totally higher than the minutes they have played in league competitions.
It is difficult to compete on that level. Now, what they are doing, is it bad? We don’t think it is bad. It’s just that their manager Luis Enrique is being smart.
He knows the league is not as competitive as it should be and believes he has a thin quality squad he can rotate, so he can use other players and compete in the league while reserving his best players for the big Champions League matches. He did it last season, 2024/25, and is now doing it again in the 2025/26 season.
The reason we are making this post is because Ousmane Dembélé is currently having Ballon d’Or shouts. We all know that the Champions League is one of the biggest metrics when it comes to the Ballon d’Or. People don’t really look at what you do in your league, especially when you are playing in a league like Ligue 1.
If Dembélé scores 50 goals in Ligue 1, no one will recommend him for the Ballon d’Or, that’s the truth. So Softfootball does not think we are wrong to add him to the conversation for the Ballon d’Or.
Because no matter what he does in Ligue 1, people will still come back to the Champions League and how he performed there. So if we have created the standard that for you to win the Ballon d’Or you must perform in the Champions League, and in a World Cup year you must do well at the World Cup, then no one really cares how much you perform in your local league alone.
