Coach Luis Enrique says Paris Saint-Germain will need to get out of its “comfort zone” if it is to emulate the trio of clubs that have achieved European three-peats.
PSG starts another Champions League title defense on Wednesday against Slovan Bratislava at the Parc des Princes.
Only Real Madrid (1956-60, 2016-18), Ajax (1971-73) and Bayern Munich (1974-76) have won three successive European Cup/Champions League trophies.
“Everyone is excited and motivated to play against us," Luis Enrique said on Tuesday. “We have to accept it and step out of our comfort zone. I’m ready to show that you have to reinvent yourself every day.”
PSG is not in the best possible form, taking just two points from three games in Ligue 1 and conceding six goals already.
His team’s faltering start is not enough to worry Luis Enrique. He knows very well that last season PSG needed time to find its rhythm before winning both Ligue 1 and the Champions League. Plus, PSG had to go through the Champions League playoffs over the past two seasons.
“If we only look at the results it’s a disastrous start to the season,” he said. “But as a coach you know how to assess and judge everything that happens on the pitch. There are things to improve, but I think we deserve more points."
As for his team's leaky defense, the Spanish tactician believes working on small details will pay off if his players manage to stay focused throughout matches.
“We haven’t always been lucky whenever the opponents have taken shots. We’ve conceded some very good goals. I’m not worried,” he said. “We’ll see at the end of the season what we deserve. I’m calm, but we need to improve.”
Captain Marquinhos admitted to “a few mistakes that are not at our level.”
“As a defender, it’s especially painful when you concede goals,” he said. “We’ve conceded quite a few at the start of this season. We watched the videos and work to improve more and more. We just have to be honest and sincere with ourselves and look at what we can do better. We have a coach who is honest with us, and we know what we need to improve.”
PSG 's ambition this season is to qualify directly from the main phase of the Champions League. The club has been handed a tough draw with matches against Manchester City, Barcelona and Aston Villa.
“I put pressure on the team all the time,” Luis Enrique added. “I’d like us to finish among the top eight teams and avoid the playoffs, but with our very difficult draw you’re going to drop points. It will be like the last two years — difficult to qualify.”
In its quest for a three-peat, PSG is betting on stability. It has been the European club generating the highest transfer revenues from departures this summer — more than 400 million euros ($464 million) — but has sold only players who were used in a substitute role by Luis Enrique. The only big name to leave was France forward Bradley Barcola in the biggest signing of the summer transfer window.
Meanwhile, PSG has reinforced its squad with the arrivals of Ferran Torres, Maghnes Akliouche, Mika Godts, Lucas Digne and Alessandro Longoni. The new players have not yet settled in and Luis Enrique said he was paying particular attention to them.
“We have to assess and support each player on an individual basis,” he said. “We try to provide precise information so they can adapt as quickly as possible.”
See AP’s full soccer coverage here
PSG's Marquinhos celebrates after scoring the opening goal 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 Marquinhos, center right, is congratulated by teammate Joao Neves, center left, after scoring the opening goal during the French League One soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain, and Monaco, in Paris, France, Friday, Sept. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin assured U.S. President Donald Trump in a phone call Tuesday that Moscow doesn't harbor aggressive intentions toward Europe, a senior Kremlin official said, after European officials expressed concern about Russian sabotage campaigns on their soil.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said meanwhile that U.S. envoys who visited Kyiv presented some “very good, worthwhile ideas” for ending Russia's 4 1/2-year-old war, adding that he hopes to meet with Trump within two weeks.
But Russia remains determined to accomplish its military goals and it believes it is close to winning, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Ukrainian and Western observers believe that Moscow has been unable to make any significant progress on the front line.
The war could yet drag on for years as Russia reconstitutes its forces and its defense industry, said U.S. Undersecretary of Defense Elbridge Colby.
“We must be prepared for a protracted conflict and for Ukraine’s requirements to persist in the months and years ahead,” Colby told an online meeting of countries helping Ukraine.
U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff visited Moscow and Kyiv for separate talks with Putin and Zelenskyy over the weekend. The meetings appeared to produce no substantial breakthrough on ending the fighting, and both countries resumed their deadly air war after a weekend truce in their capitals for the American visitors.
The attacks killed at least five civilians and wounded 25 others in Kyiv, officials said, while officials from Russia reported three people killed and 13 wounded in areas it controls.
Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, said the hourlong conversation between Putin and Trump was “constructive and quite frank.”
There was no immediate White House comment on the call.
Ushakov told reporters that “in view of the speculation about Russia’s alleged hostile intentions toward European countries, it was underlined that we don’t have any aggressive plans regarding Europe.”
Ushakov also said Putin told Trump about the combat situation in Ukraine and Russia’s plans to make battlefield gains and achieve its military goals.
He said that Moscow has a positive view of the results of the weekend visit to Moscow by Witkoff and Kushner.
“An objective and thorough analysis of the ongoing special military operation and generally our view of prospective battlefield advances and the achievement of the special military operation’s goals and tasks was given,” Ushakov said.
Zelenskyy said he is counting on meeting with Trump around Sept. 20 — about the same time that the U.N. General Assembly is being held in New York. Putin isn't expected to attend.
He indicated he will press Trump to provide more Patriot air defense systems that Kyiv needs to counter Russia's ballistic missiles.
Ukraine needs 300 Patriot missiles from its partners’ stocks, 500 air-to-air interceptors and $2 billion for more drones, U.K. Defense Secretary Wes Streeting told the meeting of countries providing help.
Also on Tuesday, the European Commission approved a loan of 3.2 billion euros ($3.7 billion) for Kyiv to purchase components for Patriot air defense systems, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said on its Telegram channel.
Zelenskyy thanked U.S. officials for their efforts to unblock negotiations with Russia, which have been stuck since early this year with little progress.
“As for the peace package that Kushner spoke about and the new ideas, I’ll tell you frankly, there were indeed a couple of very good, worthwhile ideas,” Zelenskyy said in audio messages answering reporters' questions.
The proposals will remain under wraps for now, he said, but he expressed hope that talks involving delegations from Ukraine, Russia and the U.S. can take place in the fall.
Ukraine is “ready to find a compromise” on the issues of grain exports and energy, he said. Moscow and Kyiv have targeted each other’s grain ships in the Black Sea, raising concerns that two of the world's major suppliers won't be able to get their produce to market.
Ukraine has also battered Russian oil facilities while Russia has pounded Ukraine's power grid ahead of winter.
Peskov said he believed “victory is very close” on the battlefield.
"We’re very confident in our military potential,” he told reporters, while insisting Russia wants to find a peaceful solution and welcomes Trump's diplomatic efforts.
Putin has sought to portray Russia as negotiating from a position of strength. But European officials and Western analysts say its bigger army is unable to make significant progress on the 1,250-kilometer (800-mile) front line, where it is pushing to capture the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, part of its industrial heartland.
“Russian forces will not seize Donetsk ... until 2032 at their current rate of advance — if they can seize it at all,” the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said Sunday. “The Russian rate of advance has slowed significantly across the theater since 2025, when Russia’s rate of advance had already begun to slow.”
With troops bogged down on the battlefield, both countries have intensified their aerial campaign of drones and missiles.
Russia’s main targets in its overnight attack were Kyiv and the Odesa region of southern Ukraine. At least 25 people were wounded in Kyiv, Ukraine’s Interior Minister Ivan Vyhivskyi said. There was no immediate tally of casualties in Odesa.
Explosions were heard in Kyiv for nearly five hours, according to Vyhivskyi. More than 50 sites were damaged during the overnight attack, including residential buildings, dormitories, schools, shops, gas stations and a flour production plant, he said.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called it “a horrific attack” and accused Putin of undermining U.S. peace efforts.
“His ballistic missiles speak louder than his words on diplomacy,” Sybiha said on X, referring to Putin. “Strike after strike on residential buildings brings him no closer to winning this war — it is nothing but senseless terror.”
The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces overnight launched a massive strike on Ukrainian military industry facilities.
It provided a detailed list of its targets. They included places storing Ukrainian drones and cruise missiles, as well as transport, logistics and distribution centers for military cargo in Kyiv and the Kyiv region, the ministry said.
Associated Press journalists Vasilisa Stepanenko in Kyiv, Ukraine, and Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed.
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
A rescue worker puts out a fire of a building destroyed after a Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Alex Babenko)
Smoke rises following a Russian missiles attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, early Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Firefighters try to extinguish a fire following a Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, early Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Firefighters try to extinguish a fire following a Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, early Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Firefighters try to extinguish a fire following a Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, early Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Firefighters try to extinguish a fire following a Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, early Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
A man walks along an underpass as smoke rises following a Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, early Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
