We’re now more than a decade into the Qatar Sports Investments era at Paris Saint-Germain and with no UEFA Champions League titles in the trophy cabinet, the pressure is on for this year’s squad to deliver.
QSI has invested heavily and brought some of the best players in the world to the French capital. It’s an embarrassment of riches, really. Christophe Galtier, PSG’s manager, can trot out Kylian Mbappé, Neymar Jr., and Lionel Messi to lead his attack and that’s not even mentioning the likes of Marquinhos, Achraf Hakimi, Sergio Ramos, and Marco Verratti who line up behind the front three.
When you look at the teams that could realistically win the Champions League, you land on the usual suspects. If you wanted to do some Champions League betting, you would probably put money on FC Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, or Manchester City to win it all. According to former Arsenal defender Bacary Sagna, the tournament comes down to City and PSG.
“Hopefully they don’t play each other before because that would be an amazing final. That game would be crazy,” Sagna said.
PSG only reached the Champions League final once in recent history. In 2020, Les Parisiens faced off against Bayern Munich and despite being the better side for much of that match, former PSG player Kingsley Coman scored and that was enough to propel the Germans to victory.
Last season was a disappointment for PSG. After bringing Messi to Paris, expectations were at an all-time high, but the team was knocked out of the Champions League in the Round of 16 by the eventual champions, Real Madrid.
This season, PSG appears to be playing better football under Galtier. The reigning French champions are back to dominating their domestic opponents and against Juventus FC in the first game of the group stage, PSG outplayed the Italian side and won by a score of 2 to 1.
The upcoming FIFA World Cup will certainly be an obstacle that PSG and other Champions League teams will have to navigate. An injury to a major player could certainly change the trajectory for any team in the tournament, but, assuming all of PSG’s players return from national duty healthy, you have to like their chances to go up against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City side in the Champions League.
PSG has four more matches in the group stage of the Champions League, which concludes on November 2, and then the World Cup kicks off
