PSG is struggling for form and leaking goals in France after four games without a win

PARIS (AP) — Paris Saint-Germain is just above the French league's relegation zone.

As absurd as that seems, the two-time defending Champions League winner has made such a poor start to its Ligue 1 campaign that it is just one point above 17th place in the 18-team league.

PSG has just two points from three games and might have had even less. The defending champion had to twice fight back from 2-0 down to salvage draws, even needing a last-second equalizer deep into stoppage time against Lille on Aug. 28.

But fortune ran out in last Friday's 2-1 home loss to Monaco, a defeat which left the defending French champion in an unusually low 13th place.

It was PSG's fourth consecutive game without a win, including the 1-0 loss to Lens in the French league's curtain-raising Super Cup. In that game Lens played the entire second half with a player less following a sending off.

PSG's start to the domestic campaign reads like this: No wins. Two defeats. Two draws. Seven goals conceded.

Hardly the start expected from a team which downed Europe's best sides in the past two seasons and played some of the best attacking soccer seen anywhere for many years.

PSG coach Luis Enrique remained defiant after the Monaco setback, saying his side deserved to win by a large margin. He also shrugged off the fact PSG is seven points behind leader Monaco.

“If you want to bet on who will be champion at the end of the season, we can make a bet.” he said. “Seven points? OK, we’ll look to put that right as soon as possible.”

But midfielder João Neves conceded the team is not showing “the best version of itself” and Monaco's new coach Filipe Luís said much the same.

“PSG is not in its best form,” he said. “We tried to press them high up the field.”

So why has PSG made such a poor start to a domestic league it has dominated by winning the past five league titles?

None of PSG’s attacking stars — Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembélé, Désiré Doué and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia — have scored in the past four games.

In fact, Dembélé was left out of the Lille game and only came on midway through the second half against Monaco.

Veteran center half Marquinhos and new signing Ferran Torres — whose second-half brace after coming off the bench rescued a draw at Rennes — have two goals each.

Luis Enrique said he was delighted with the summer transfer window and thanked his club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi. Spain's World Cup hero Torres was joined at PSG by France winger Maghnes Akliouche and Belgium prospect Mika Godts.

All are capable of playing as roaming forwards.

But they also have to adapt to PSG's intricate system which relies on constant pressing and a tireless work rate. It may take months to settle in.

PSG sold three established attacking players: striker Gonçalo Ramos to AC Milan, attacking midfielder Lee Kang-In to Atletico Madrid and winger Bradley Barcola to Liverpool.

Ramos is a lethal finisher and one of the best headers of the ball in European soccer. His goals off the bench were also invaluable for PSG.

Lee is a generous and versatile player whose strong technical skill helped PSG's link play in midfield and Barcola is a goal-scoring attacker with electrifying place.

Luis Enrique spent three years knitting his side together, creating a tight unit whereby each player relies on the other.

But by changing the attack too much he may actually have unbalanced his side. PSG remains vulnerable to fast counterattacks and quickly needs to fine-tune its transitional play, which was its strength in the last three seasons.

See AP’s full soccer coverage here

PSG's Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, right, challenges for the ball with Monaco's Mamadou Coulibaly, center, during the French League One soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain, and Monaco, in Paris, France, Friday, Sept. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

PSG's head coach Luis Enrique, center, stands with PSG's Fabian Ruiz, left, and PSG's Joao Neves, prior to the start of the French League One soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain, and Monaco, in Paris, France, Friday, Sept. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Nepal held a day of mourning Monday to remember those killed in the Aug. 26 floods, with flags lowered at government offices and families concluding mourning rituals.

Monday was the 13th day since the flooding which killed more than 1,300 people in Nepal and Tibet and left some 5,000 missing, including foreigners, according to Nepal’s disaster management agency.

In predominantly Hindu Nepal, mourning periods last 13 days, during which close family members stay home and relatives visit to pay their respects. Rituals are held on the final day to pray for the souls of the departed.

Several people whose relatives remain missing performed symbolic funerals. Cremation is an important final rite in Hindu tradition, and performing the ceremony even without the bodies of their loved ones provided some families a sense of spiritual release.

The government had declared Monday an official day of mourning and ordered flags at government offices lowered to half-staff.

Meanwhile, search efforts continued for the missing, but some protested that not enough was being done.

In Kathmandu, relatives gathered near the offices of the prime minister and key ministries to demand the government speed up search and rescue efforts for hundreds of people who had been working at hydropower plants and were either swept away by the rushing Bhotekhoshi River or buried under debris.

Sumana Shrestha stood with family members holding a poster with the photo of her 55-year-old husband, who has not been heard from since the day of the flood.

Her husband, a consulting geologist, had promised to return home after his shift at the project office for the Trishuli hydropower plant on the day of the flood. The 2 1/2-story office was completely buried by debris.

“We are here because we have not heard of any rescue attempt on this project, but it has been 13 days already,” she said. "The only thing we have been able to do is pray to God and hope for a miracle."

Another protester, Mahesh Prasad Shrestha, held a photograph of his brother Niraj Shrestha, a 52-year-old engineer who worked at the same site. He said authorities only sent a small excavator by helicopter on the sixth or seventh day after the disaster, adding: “They should have ordered big helicopters from places like China or India to fly in equipment.”

Rescue efforts have focused on 12 hydropower projects, where about 900 workers are missing and roughly 500 are believed to be trapped in various tunnels, authorities said. Specialized rescue teams from India, China, South Korea and the United States have been searching through debris, damaged structures and tunnels at the projects.

Two Nepalese workers were rescued from the plant Friday, and rescuers pulled out a Chinese man from the facility on Saturday.

Relatives of recent flash flood victims hold banners urging authorities to step up efforts to find their missing loved ones during a demonstration in Kathmandu, Nepal, Monday, Sept. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

Relatives of recent flash flood victims hold banners urging authorities to step up efforts to find their missing loved ones during a demonstration in Kathmandu, Nepal, Monday, Sept. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

Buddhist monks offer prayers for the departed soul of the victims of flash flood on the bank of Trishuli river in Devighat, Nuwakot district, Nepal, Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)