With a tight calendar due to the World Cup (November 20-December 18) in Qatar, there should be no delay in the ignition for the 32 contenders for the succession of Real Madrid and this European campaign, which will will end on June 10, 2023 at the Atatürk Olympic Stadium, promises to be epic.
The first part of the competition will thus run from September 6 to November 2, just two and a half weeks before the start of the World Cup-2022. For the Parisian stars, the ideal would be to have ensured qualification for the round of 16 at the earliest in order to quietly preserve themselves for the great planetary event. A hen without too many leaders would help them.
Present in hat 1 with the Madrid defending champion, the champions of the main countries in the UEFA index (Manchester City, AC Milan, Bayern Munich, FC Porto, Ajax Amsterdam) and the winner of the Europa League (Eintracht Frankfurt) , PSG must above all watch for the identity of their opponents from pots 2 and 3, likely to cause them problems in their march towards the knockout matches, an appointment that they have not missed since the fiscal year 2012-2013.
Even if the PSG sports project has been radically remodeled with the arrival at the helm of Christophe Galtier (coach) and Luis Campos (football adviser), and the emphasis has been placed on rigor and discipline, the objectives do not have not changed for the Qatari owners of the club.
The quest for the Champions League remains the Holy Grail for the decision-makers in Doha, who have managed the feat of extending their nugget Kylian Mbappé until 2025 despite the assiduous courtship of Real Madrid.
Whatever the draw, it is difficult to imagine the “MNM” (Messi-Neymar-Mbappé), impressive at the start of the season, going straight out the door but there will still be some great customers capable of complicating the task of the stars of the capital, determined to avenge the insult of their pitiful elimination in the round of 16 against Real Madrid last season.
Liverpool, European champion in 2019 and unfortunate finalist in 2022, Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea, winner in 2021, and especially FC Barcelona with imposing recruitment (Lewandowski, Raphinha, Koundé…) are scarecrows in the hat 2. And no one particularly wants to cross paths with Inter Milan so quickly, reinforced this summer by the return of Romelu Lukaku, the biggest size in hat 3.
The eventual reunion with Barça would have a special flavor for the two glorious former members of the Blaugrana house, Messi and Neymar.
– No miracle for OM? –
For OM, who fell into hat 4 due to the qualification of Benfica Lisbon at the end of the play-offs, there should however be no miracle: the course will necessarily be one of the most perilous.
With a coach, Igor Tudor, a novice in this event, and a largely overhauled workforce, Marseille, semi-finalist of the Europa League Conference, prays to fall on one of the rare teams a little more modest on the plateau, like Frankfurt in the pot 1 and RB Salzburg or Sporting Portugal in pot 3.
OM will then aim to do better than in their last two participations, which had turned into a nightmare: in 2013-2014, with Elie Baup in charge, Marseille lost their six group matches, and in 2020-2021, André Villas-Boas and his men had only taken three points (1 win, 5 losses).
The qualification for the C1 was in any case a breath of fresh air economically, even if it resulted in the departure of Jorge Sampaoli, who had real ambitions for OM in this event but was scalded by the reluctance of its leaders on the transfer market.
The management of the club would be satisfied today with a 3rd place and a switch to the Europa League.
