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PARIS -- Paris Saint-Germain warmed up for next week's UEFA Champions League knockout round playoff first leg against Stade Brestois 29 with a convincing 4-1 home win over AS Monaco in Ligue 1 on Friday. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia is finally off the mark with the French giants after putting Luis Enrique's men 2-1 ahead against Les Monegasques at Parc des Princes as the Georgia international gets ready to enter the continental stage with his new side.

Vitinha opened the scoring in the French capital with a superb free-kick only for Denis Zakaria to level things up with a neat finish squeezed past Gianluigi Donnarumma but Kvaradona and the in-form Ousmane Dembele (twice) ensured that Paris' unbeaten domestic season continued through 21 games. PSG took the chance pregame to confirm contract extensions for not only head coach Luis Enrique but also Vitinha, Achraf Hakimi and Nuno Mendes among others in a show of strength that illustrates just how drastic the turnaround in the Ligue 1 leaders' campaign has been these past few weeks.

"It is the best feeling to score like that in front of these incredible supporters who create this incredible atmosphere," said Kvaratskhelia postgame. "I am very happy to be here and I am the happiest person in the world right now. I have been working on my first goal and I wanted it to happen quickly. I need to keep working hard so that more come now but I feel great -- everyone in this team is very good. We need to focus only on soccer. I am very proud to be here as part of this team and this club."

Now a provisional 13 points clear of Olympique de Marseille at the Championnat summit, 16 points clear of Monaco in third after this win and playing some incredibly fluent soccer right now, Paris are enjoying themselves. Suddenly, there is a confidence and authority which has been born through results such as the comeback win over Manchester City in the UCL. Ironically, PSG's next Champions League outing is what you would normally expect from standard weekend in France with Brest away in Guingamp coming up next midweek while a high octane encounter with Monaco is the sort of matchup that you would expect in Europe when two French sides come together on the continental stage.

The Breton minnows have won many admirers with their fearless style of play in the UCL and there is an argument that the Paris of old might have gotten complacent coming into next week but that does not seem to be the case with this iteration. Luis Enrique and his players have turned their term around in recent weeks with some superb attacking showings across all competitions and their close shave with adversity in Europe has served to wake them from their slumber to the point that they are now looking quite dangerous -- especially with Kvaratskhelia added to a potent mix featuring the suddenly prolific Dembele and Bradley Barcola.

Since a three-game winless run back in late November through to early December which included a loss to Bayern Munich as well as underwhelming draws with both Nantes and Auxerre, PSG have reeled off 13 wins from 14 unbeaten outings as part of a run which has included away wins over Red Bull Salzburg and VfB Stuttgart as well as a stunning fightback victory over Manchester City. That impressive consistency has also yielded three Coupe de France successes which have now placed Luis Enrique's outfit particularly well for another title considering that most of their credible main rivals have been eliminated from the competition.

"I am sure that you can imagine how we are feeling right now," added Vitinha after the Monaco win. "We are enjoying every game, enjoying playing together and scoring lots of goals -- we are really happy. We hope to keep this form going for as long as is possible and there are still things to work on and improve like some small errors that we make. I did not know that Nantes hold the record (for an unbeaten Ligue 1 season) but that is because we are not thinking about it. It is true -- we have never spoken about it. We think only about the next game which has helped us to get these results so far and could take us very far."

The Champions League round of 16 could pair PSG with a Liverpool or Barcelona and neither of those two -- despite finishing the league phase as the top two sides -- will relish that possibility nor will Les Parisiens feel inferior as long as they do what is expected of them against Brest over two legs. Their recent showings, including a convincing recent 5-2 away win in Brittany, suggests that this maturing side is coming into its own in a way that was not truly possible last year despite a UCL semifinal run while Kylian Mbappe was still around.

With Kvaratskhelia's arrival, Barcola's uptick in form and Dembele's sudden goal glut, Paris are looking healthy, balanced and focused which could mean a strong and convincing second half of the season for the capital outfit if they can keep themselves grounded. Brest will be no pushovers and PSG must respect them in order to not fall foul of a potential upset but recent form suggests that there is no reason for Luis Enrique and his players to fear that when they have been as thorough as they have been of late which Monaco can now vouch for as their latest victims.