Paris Saint-Germain enters the 2025-26 season as the European champions. Their run to the UEFA Champions League final last season was impressive and culminated in a 5-0 win over Inter Milan. Now, Luis Enrique’s squad must defend their title against teams that will no longer underestimate them.
As usual, PSG was drawn against one of the most challenging groups of opponents in the league phase of the Champions League. They play Barcelona and Athletic Club on the road, and host Tottenham Hotspur and FC Bayern Munich at the Parc des Princes. They’ll also take on Newcastle United, Bayer Leverkusen, Atalanta, and Sporting. Like players testing their skills with Casino Buddies, PSG will be tested against some of Europe’s elite teams.
That run of games follows a grueling season where they played more than 60 games. With very little rest following last summer’s FIFA Club World Cup, PSG is already having to deal with injuries to key players.
On a more positive note, PSG does have the reigning Ballon d’Or winner in Ousmane Dembélé. They have an elite manager who has instilled a philosophy of how the team should prepare and perform on the pitch.
While Dembélé and Luis Enrique will play an important role in PSG defending their Champions League title, and injuries could certainly see them crash out of the tournament, I see things shaping up differently.
For PSG to win the 2025-26 Champions League, they will need Achraf Hakimi and Nuno Mendes to continue their incredible performances. The two full-backs are so versatile that they unlock everything Luis Enrique wants to do, and they make PSG a matchup nightmare.
When Hakimi and Mendes get forward and join the PSG attack, they overwhelm defenses with their overlapping runs and technical ability. There is no other team that has full-backs who can do what these two can, meaning teams can’t really prepare for the speed at which they attack. It’s only when they see it during the match that they are caught flat-footed, and that’s when PSG takes advantage.
Hakimi will miss time due to international duty during the Africa Cup of Nations, which will take the Morocco international away from the French capital for parts of December and July. There’s no way for PSG to fill his absence as no one is up to the quality Hakimi brings every match. Instead, Luis Enrique may have to adjust how the team plays until he returns.
Mendes has struggled with injuries in the past, but he’s rebounded extremely well and is on the path to becoming one of the best left-backs the game has ever seen. He finished 10th in the Ballon d’Or voting, and if he can lead PSG to another Champions League title, I can absolutely see him rising up the rankings.
PSG should have Hakimi and Mendes back in the squad once the knockout stage of the Champions League starts. Hopefully, they finish in the top eight and avoid having to play an extra two matches. That will save the legs of the two full-backs and hopefully keep them fresh to propel PSG to a deep run in the Champions League.
Now, for what might keep PSG from winning back-to-back titles. This summer, Gianluigi Donnarumma left for Manchester City in a surprise move. The Italy international was entering the last year of his contract, and everyone assumed he would get a new deal. As it turned out, PSG was unwilling to meet Donnarumma’s contract demands, so he left for Pep Guardiola and Manchester City.
PSG filled his position with Lille’s Lucas Chevalier, a player with whom many fans of French football are very familiar. He is one of the best young goalkeepers in the game, but the big question is, is he ready to be the goalkeeper of a PSG side that is ready to win multiple Champions League titles?
Chevalier has gotten off to a rocky start, but he has shown flashes of his ability on the ball, something Donnarumma lacked. If PSG were to get eliminated in the tournament sooner than they would hope, it is likely due to a mistake by Chevalier. The lights have never been brighter for the 23-year-old and he’ll have to prove he can elevate his game under Luis Enrique, just like Donnarumma did last season.
