Paris SG will have a lot to do with matches against Manchester City, Bayern Munich and Arsenal, for the new version of the first round of the Champions League, full of sumptuous matches according to the draw made on Thursday.
A new era is beginning and the four French clubs involved – PSG, Monaco, Brest, Lille – will fully experience it in view of the very prestigious matches that are looming.
In this new first phase called « ligue »each club will face eight teams – two in each of the four pots – excluding clubs from its own league.
PSG, accustomed to major European matches in recent years, will host Manchester City, Atletico Madrid, PSV Eindhoven and Girona, and will travel to Munich, Arsenal, Salzburg and Stuttgart.
These eight matches will take place between September 17 and January 29, with the aim for the capital club to finish among the top eight in the ranking of the 36 teams involved.
Play-offs will allow teams ranked ninth to 24th to also try to qualify.
The objective for PSG is not only to avoid these play-offs but to rank as high as possible, since the rank will have an impact on the placement in the final table.
Standardisation
(L to R) Italy’s Gianluigi Buffon, UEFA Deputy General Secretary Giorgio Marchetti and Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo during the draw for the first phase of the 2024-2025 Champions League in Monaco on August 29, 2024 / Valery HACHE / AFP
For his second season on the Parisian bench after reaching the semi-finals, the Spaniard Luis Enrique is highly anticipated in the Champions League. Indeed, PSG, cut out to outrageously dominate French football, will be able to quickly gauge itself against its European rivals, notably Guardiola’s City, while its Qatari owners have the ambition of winning the cup with the big ears.
“With the new format, it will be harder but that’s what we like. It’s very exciting. We have tough matches but we will have to think match by match. We have a collective objective as the coach said.”reacted the president of PSG, Nasser Al-Khelaifi.
For the other Ligue 1 clubs, the step is just as high: Monaco will host FC Barcelona, Benfica Lisbon, Red Star Belgrade and Aston Villa. And will go to challenge Inter Milan, Arsenal, Dinamo Zagreb and Bologna.
Brest, 3rd in Ligue 1 last season, and one of the smallest teams in the C1, will host – probably at the Roudourou in Guingamp since Francis-Le Blé does not meet the conditions – Real Madrid, German champion Leverkusen, PSV Eindhoven and Sturm Graz. And will travel to Barcelona, Shakhtar Donetsk, Salzburg and Sparta Prague.
“If there was a big team to draw it would be Real Madrid. We’re going to bring Mbappé back to Brittany, it’s good news, we like him a lot. We’re going to have to be in shape and our team will have to have a great day. In any case, we knew we would draw some big names.”declared Brest President Denis Le Saint.
Dizzy
Lille, who snatched their qualification on Wednesday evening in the play-offs, will also host Real Madrid, as well as Juventus Turin, Feyenoord Rotterdam and Sturm Graz. Losc will face Liverpool, Atletico Madrid, Sporting Portugal and Bologna.
“It’s great. We’re already very happy to be here. We’ve had some headwinds, but we’ll have some great matches, it’s fantastic. I was doubtful about the format but in the end, it’s great.”explained President Olivier Létang.
If we add matches between mammoths like Liverpool – Real Madrid, Barcelona – Bayern or City – Inter Milan, it’s a whole host of matches that have been given at breakneck speed by a computer.
Cristiano Ronaldo was content to activate it at each stage, since Monaco, after Gianluigi Buffon pulled a ball by hand.
Enough to make fans accustomed to manual drawing from bowls and groups of four teams dizzy.
The objective was therefore sporting for UEFA, but also political, to cut the grass from under the feet of a possible Super League, a project which regularly resurfaces.
And financial objective with more matches, advertising revenue and income for clubs.
The winner, who will be crowned on May 31, 2025 in Munich, will receive a check for at least 86 million euros, compared to 68 million euros previously. In total, 2.467 billion euros will be distributed among the participants (2 billion in 2023-2024).
