RMC's "L'After Foot" focused on Khvicha Kvaratskhelia's form before Paris Saint-Germain were due to play Barcelona in the Champions League. Kvaratskhelia has lost his place in the Paris Saint-Germain starting line-up since the start of the season, and his inconsistent displays were debated on the programme.
Questions raised on the programme
The guests on the programme posed the question of whether Kvaratskhelia would once again deliver when it mattered most. GOAL said Kvaratskhelia's form has dipped and said he has endured a complicated start to the 2026-2027 season.
Clerc and Riolo on his level
Former Lyon and Saint-Étienne player François Clerc said on the programme on Monday evening: "If Kvara starts the match, he will play a big game. In terms of behaviour, we feel he is playing with a (muddled) head, and that he is not present. We feel a kind of unease. He has produced good matches in the French league, but now he is disappointing anyway."
Journalist Daniel Riolo said the gap in Kvaratskhelia's level between Ligue 1 and the Champions League could become a problem. He said: "If he plays (against Barcelona) and as usual (in the Champions League) he is good, then I think the message after a while will be: stop doing that."
He added: "We agree that there is a theory of players choosing their matches, and we let it pass quietly because we realised that nobody at Paris Saint-Germain cared about the French league. But this would be a very big thing, in fact too much. In the French league, he really is average. If he is good tomorrow and I were the coach, I would not accept that." GOAL said Riolo argued that Kvaratskhelia seems to be picking his matches, shrugging off Ligue 1 fixtures and letting his level swing between the two competitions.
Acherchour points to preparation
Fellow journalist and analyst Walid Acherchour said Kvaratskhelia did not take part in the World Cup this year and had an ideal preparation. He said: "This year, he did not take part in the World Cup, and he had an ideal preparation, so how do we explain that Kvara, who may be among the top five candidates for the Ballon d'Or, is no longer able, against Strasbourg, to attempt a dribble in a one-on-one situation?"
Gautreau offers an explanation and prediction
Journalist and technical analyst Florent Gautreau believes Luis Enrique may keep Kvaratskhelia on the bench and keep piling on the pressure. GOAL said Gautreau believes Kvaratskhelia has not rediscovered the level or attitude demanded of him. GOAL said Gautreau did, though, predict a return to form. GOAL said Gautreau expects Kvaratskhelia to come back as an excellent player and reclaim his starting spot both domestically and in Europe.
Gautreau offered a possible answer: "There is something we underestimated in all our discussions about the Ballon d'Or: when he arrived at the start of the season, he perhaps saw himself as a candidate, but in the big machine of everyone's nomination campaigns (Mbappé, Yamal and Dembélé), he saw that they were no longer talking about him."
He added: "This is perhaps why his level dropped (because of frustration) while he had been expecting a tremendous start to the season after missing out on the World Cup."