FEATURE | Khvicha Kvaratskhelia – PSG’s big-game player | OneFootball

This feature is a repost from Get French Football News and can be found HERE

In their years of toiling, falling short of their goal of winning the Champions League, sometimes in almost comical fashion, PSG looked in desperate need of a big-game player. Numerous are the great players that have worn Les Parisiens’ Red and Blue colours over the course of the QSI era, and of course, prior to that, but in recent times, they were all too often found wanting in those big UCL knockout games. Where was Kylian Mbappé when PSG failed to score in either leg of their semi-final in 2024? Or Lionel Messi and Neymar Jr., for that matter, when they failed to score in either leg against Bayern Munich when they were dumped out of the competition the season prior?

There are now plenty of big-game players in this squad, particularly – and most crucially – in the forward areas. Désiré Doué was, of course, the man of the moment in that Champions League final win over Inter Milan (5-0) and in the semi-final, it was Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembélé who put the French side in the ascendancy. Both were also consistently excellent in Ligue 1 last season, and whilst Khvicha Kvaratskhelia put up honourable figures in the league (14 appearances, four goals, three assists) last season, he always saved his best performances for those nights under the lights.

An adaptation since joining PSG

His statistics this season tell that story. He already has two goals in just three UCL games, as opposed to just one goal in 11 games in the league, in a way mirroring PSG, who have been somewhat two-faced this season, often excellent in Europe but less imperious in Ligue 1. 

He recently expressed his surprise at the level of the French top-flight. “Before coming, I thought that it was easier, but it is very hard. It is hard physically, and it is one of the best top five [European] leagues. Those who say that it is easy are wrong,” said Kvara.

But he is a passenger in league games; that is simply not true and devalues the other valuable facets to his game.

Unlike the MNM (Messi, Neymar, Mbappé) front line, this PSG side do press from the front and whilst the iconic image of Dembélé, hungry and determined, waiting for the goalkeeper to play the ball out so that he can frantically hunt after it, has seen him given much of the credit in PSG’s impressive press, Kvaratkskhelia is no less important. The Georgian is blessed with technique, but unlike his predecessors at PSG, he doesn’t solely rely on it and is always determined to diligently implement Luis Enrique’s defensive instructions. 

“Every forward has to help the defence,” began Kvaratskhelia, speaking ahead of the match against Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday night. “Before, I wasn’t like that. I focused on attacking primarily. But here, I am aware that everyone has to defend and help others. I have developed that with the manager, and I give my all on the pitch.”

Kvaratskhelia at the heart of defining UCL moments

He showed his progress in this domain, his determination to make the sprint and track back Denzel Dumfries late on in the UCL final. That PSG were already 4-0 up did not deter the former Napoli forward. His opening months at the Parc des Princes show exactly why Luis Enrique said that the forward “corresponded with [their] idea of football”. 

The Spaniard added, “He is a player who showed at Napoli and with the Georgian national team his level. He can perfectly adapt to our idea of the game […] he is versatile, he can create overloads, and he also has a great capacity to defend, which is essential because we need to defend as an XI if we are to attack as an XI.”

But Kvara’s defensive diligence does not detract from dazzling going forward. If his track back on Dumfries was the moment that perhaps epitomised the great strength of this PSG collective, his goal against Aston Villa in the quarter-finals of the UCL remains one of the most memorable moments of that successful campaign. 

Axel Disasi hardly had a moment to settle into the game, having come on at half-time in the first leg with the scores tied at 1-1, when Kvaratskhelia barrelled towards him. The Frenchman was forced back into his own box and was a passenger as Kvara delightfully rolled the ball onto his left foot before unleashing a spectacular drive into the roof of the net from a tight angle. 

PSG would go on to win that game 3-1 and then progress comfortably to the semi-final stage. He was the game-changer that Les Parisiens needed and the big-game player that the team, despite its undoubted talent, had lacked.

An embodiment of Luis Enrique’s philosophy

It was the finish but also just the incredible technique, the effortlessness, the seeming nonchalance of such a difficult skill, that made it such a memorable moment. Aesthetically, he is something of an old-school player, and he is reminiscent of the mercurial talents that came before him at PSG, but he isn’t the same as them. He has a completely different star power, one much more discreet, more selfless, but no less alluring, and certainly no less effective.

When he arrived at PSG for €70m back in January, there was a simultaneous certainty that he would be a key player, but also a question as to where he would fit. Bradley Barcola was in red-hot form on the left, Doué was coming into his own on the right, and Dembélé was hardly about to be dropped, and so Kvaratskhelia had to carve out his spot. In his first 12 months, he has done just that. Be it on the left or on the right, he is an ever-present for Luis Enrique, an essential player and an embodiment of what the Spaniard has successfully implemented at the European champions.

GFN | Luke Entwistle