PSG reshaping with youth in image of defender Pacho

Ligue 1 leaders Paris Saint-Germain face Lens on Saturday with their young vanguard led by Ecuadorean Willian Pacho really starting to assert itself this season.

Pacho, the 23-year-old Ecuadorean centre-back, is one of a handful of players reshaping a squad now shorn of the superstars of previous years.

Instead of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, PSG have a host of emerging players in their teens and early 20s.

They include Warren Zaire-Emery, 18, Joao Neves, 20, and 22-year-old Bradley Barcola.

Pacho told AFP in an interview this week he is enjoying forming a defensive partnership with one of the remaining veterans at PSG, 30-year-old Brazilian international Marquinhos.

"I was dying to play with him. It's like a childhood dream, I've been watching him play for years in the Champions League," he said.

"I'm learning a lot from him, he's an experienced player and a good guy.

"I am going to work and learn so I can achieve my dreams."

Pacho, who signed from Eintracht Frankfurt in the summer, said it was laughable to suggest that Ligue 1 is somehow easier than the Bundesliga or other European leagues.

"Oh no, it's really difficult, he said. "Especially because our opponents change the way they play when they meet us.

"It's very tactical, you have to really have your wits about you."

Reigning champions PSG bolstered their title ambitions with a straightforward 3-0 away win against Marseille last weekend despite pre-match predictions the meeting of France's two best-supported clubs would be closer than in previous seasons.

PSG go into the meeting with Lens three points clear of Monaco, who will expect to take three points when they tackle Angers on Friday.

Coach Bruno Genesio meanwhile takes his fourth-placed Lille side back to his previous club, Lyon.

PLAYER TO WATCH

Bradley Barcola (Paris Saint-Germain)

The French international has eight league goals this season and seems to have the confidence and technique to begin filling the huge hole left by the departure of Kylian Mbappe to Real Madrid.

KEY STAT

3 - The number of PSG players – Warren Zaire-Emery, Joao Neves and Desire Doue – among the 25 nominees for the Golden Boy 2024, the prize awarded by Italian daily Tutto Sport to the best under-21 player in Europe.

FIXTURES (all times GMT)

Friday

Monaco v Angers (18:00), Lille v Lyon (20:00)

Saturday

Paris Saint Germain v Lens (16:00), Brest v Nice (18:00), St Etienne v Strasbourg (20:00)

Sunday (16:00 unless stated)

Toulouse v Reims (14:00), Auxerre v Rennes, Le Havre v Montpellier, Nantes v Marseille (19:45)