It was well worth fighting with all your might against the Superleague.
Result: PSG will face the same, European Cup closed or not.
With the English from Manchester City, the Germans from RB Leipzig and the Belgians from Brugge, the capital club are falling back on old acquaintances, which make this draw much less exciting than in other years.
No AC Milan or Inter, Sevilla FC or Sheriff Tiraspol who would have written new stories between clubs that do not know each other or less.
Obviously, the first place in the pool will be reduced to a City - Paris battle, eternal sporting and geopolitical rivals between two teams held by the Gulf powers, the United Arab Emirates on one side and Qatar on the other. Mauricio Pochettino has already launched the duel from a distance on the club's media. "It's special, Manchester City is one of the best teams in Europe, they've been fighting for ten years to win the Champions League," said the Argentine coach. But you have to respect the other teams too, Leipzig and Bruges, it will be hard, very hard. When you play these kinds of competitions, all the teams are very strong. The most important thing is to be ready when the competition starts. We will try to finish first, it is our challenge. "
The technician therefore finds Pep Guardiola, the coach he has most often met during his career on a bench.
The two men know each other by heart and the Barcelona legend will undoubtedly be moved to find on his way Leo Messi with whom he won two editions of the C1, in 2009 and 2011. The transfer window, in both directions, is not not finished and there will perhaps be among the Citizens Cristiano Ronaldo, which would allow an umpteenth Messi - CR7 confrontation, one of the most beautiful duels in modern sport.
As for Kylian Mbappé, he may have crossed the Pyrenees but if he is still there, Bruges will have nightmares.
Avoid the difficulties of last season
Among the Belgians, no one has forgotten Mbappé's masterclass in October 2019. Paris already faced Bruges in the group stage of the Champions League. On the bench at kickoff that day, the French international had literally changed the face of PSG by signing a hat-trick in 31 minutes. All of Europe fears the association that "Kyky" could form with Neymar and Messi even if Charles de Ketelaere, attacker from Bruges, saliva in advance at the idea of facing the Argentinian: "If it's a dream to play against Messi and all the other stars? Clearly, these are the soccer stars and the best players in the world. "
Paris will have to avoid the difficulties of last season when under the Tuchel era, he had passed very close to the correctional before snatching at nothing his qualification for the eighth. The rest, we know it. The adventure stopped at the gates of the final… beaten by Manchester City. “City is one of the two best clubs in the world,” explains President Nasser Al-Khelaïfi. But we want to work, we want to be ready for this match. This will be the opportunity to take revenge. Without losing sight of the ultimate goal: to win this C1 once and for all.
