Mark OgdenMar 11, 2026, 07:13 PM ET
PARIS -- Like it or not, Paris Saint-Germain are still the team to beat in the Champions League. Why? The reigning champions can reach levels that the rest can only dream of, and PSG simply blew Chelsea away when they slipped through the gears.
This has been a season of inconsistency and ups-and-downs for PSG, but the side that won the Champions League in such devastating form last season has apparently been lying in wait at Parc des Princes, ready to reawaken. And that moment came as this round-of-16 first-leg tie approached its final fifteen minutes in Paris.
Chelsea had fought back twice to make it 2-2 on the night and the Premier League side threatened to turn the game on its head and take the lead ahead of next Tuesday's second-leg at Stamford Bridge. But then it happened.
A mistake by goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen -- surprisingly selected ahead of first-choice Robert Sánchez -- gifted the ball to Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and it ended up with Vitinha, who lofted the ball over Jorgensen to make it 3-2. For Chelsea, it marked their third error leading to goal in the Champions League this season -- only on-the-verge-of-relegation Tottenham has more among Premier League teams with six.
From that point onwards, PSG -- and especially substitute Kvaratskhelia -- were unstoppable. They were ruthless, and a game that was drifting towards a draw -- or even a Chelsea win -- ended with PSG claiming a 5-2 victory.
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Now, PSG are overwhelming favourites to comfortably reach the quarterfinals. Last season, a similar spark propelled PSG to Champions League glory. In January 2025, PSG fell 2-0 behind at home to Manchester City, who scored twice shortly after the start of the second-half, and the French side were heading out of the competition in the League Phase. But by the end of that game, PSG had won 4-2 and it transformed their season. They never looked back.
Chelsea certainly didn't help themselves. PSG scored five goals from an expected goals of just 0.87 -- that +4.13 goal-above-expected is the second highest in a Champions League knockout match in 15 years. The error that allowed PSG to score the go-ahead goal was a big culprit.
But in the end, Chelsea were the victims of another PSG surge, and it was the home side's breathless performance in the final 15 minutes that will send put the rest of Europe on notice.
"The last 15-20 minutes were crazy, but that's on me," Chelsea coach Liam Rosenior said. "We need to better when setbacks happen, be calm and collected, and that didn't happen.
"It's a painful one because we were in the tie for 75 minutes. We have shot ourselves in the foot, made the tie very difficult now and the fifth goal is the painful one."
PSG simply have incredible attacking talent and it all clicked against Chelsea, starting with Bradley Barcola and Ousmane Dembélé's first-half goals -- Dembele's counter-attack goal was a stunning example of the pace PSG possess.
Chelsea were able to expose PSG's defensive frailties, equalising twice through Malo Gusto and Enzo Fernández, but Enrique's forwards are so potent that they are able to make up for the lapses at the back that have affected the team all season.
Will those issues cost them a back-to-back Champions League title? That's the risk, especially after the inexplicable decision to offload Gianluigi Donnarumma to City in the summer following the signing of Lucas Chevalier.
Chevalier has had a difficult first season in Paris and he was on the bench again, overlooked in favour of the inconsistent Matvey Safonov, who should have saved Gusto's goal.
Perhaps PSG can ride it out all the way to another final simply because they have so much firepower upfront, but they will have to repeat the form that overran Chelsea to ensure that their defensive problems don't prove to be their downfall.
If Kvaratskhelia can continue to play as he did in the final 15 minutes, PSG will be too strong for every other team left in the competition.
The Georgia winger made it 4-2 with a powerful curling shot from 20 yards on 86 minutes and then put the game seemingly beyond Chelsea's reach with another, deep into stoppage time.
But even before he started scoring, the former Napoli player destroyed Chelsea's right flank and it was clear that he was burning with determination to make a point to Enrique for starting him on the bench in the first place.
When Kvaratskhelia hit PSG's fifth, the Chelsea players slumped to the ground like a boxer that had taken too many blows.
"I think we showed today we are capable of everything," Kvaratskhelia said. "We just have to continue like this. We conceded two goals and we can see the mistakes we made, but we are happy with a three goal victory. We are still PSG."
Chelsea still have 90 minutes to turn the tie around next week, but they will know that PSG are more likely to pick them off on the counter-attack whenever they attempt to find the three goals needed to wipe out their deficit.
This was a brutal lesson for Chelsea. They looked like a team that could compete for 70 minutes, but then they encountered the European champions at the top of their game.
That PSG were able to just turn it on and dismantle a Premier League side as strong as Chelsea -- a team that was able to beat PSG in the FIFA Club World Cup final last summer -- underlined the power and quality that Enrique has at his disposal.
Yes, it has been difficult season for PSG, but they have shown their best again and nobody can live with them like this.
