The challenge of Luis Enrique’s PSG: “We have a unique challenge”

“We have a unique challenge, to try to equal Real Madrid’s consecutive treble; I don’t think anyone else in history has achieved it apart from Real Madrid and that’s why we are very motivated,” he acknowledged. Luis Enrique, coach of Paris Saint Germain weeks ago.

The staging of a new edition of the Champions League represents a unique challenge for the French champion, winner of the event in the last two years. He has before him the possibility of winning another one. The third in a row, something that only Real Madrid managed by the Frenchman achieved Zinedine Zidane between 2016 and 2017.

In fact, the French champion, who closed last year as the best in the Old Continent, entered another dimension after beating Arsenal on penalties in Budapest. It was the second club to successfully defend, to retain the title, since the tournament adopted its current dominance, after Real Madrid.

With the challenge of Paris Saint Germain, the classic contenders for the most valuable trophy in club football, and four debutants, the Italian Como, the Austrian LASK Linz, the Sabah of Azerbaijan and the Viking of Norway, the first day of the league phase begins this week, spread over three days.

Thirty-six clubs start from the starting line. Spain and England, with five teams each, are the most represented. Arsenal, Aston Villa, Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United come from the Premier and Barcelona, ​​Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid, Betis and Villarreal come from LaLiga. German football has four: Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, Leipzig and Stuttgart and Serie A, with Inter, Naples, Rome and Como.

France, with Paris Saint Germain, Lens and Lille, has three clubs and Portugal (Porto and Sporting), Turkey (Fenerbahce and Galatasaray), the Netherlands (Feyenoord and PSV Eindhoven) and Norway (Bodo Glimt and Viking) have two.

In addition, Slovakia (Slovan Bratislava), Azerbaijan (Sabah), Ukraine (Shakhtar), Czech Republic (Slavia Prague), Austria (LASK Linz), Belgium (Club Bruges) and Greece (AEK Athens), with one team, complete the lineup of participants in the event.

The initial tour, with league phase matches, eight matches for each of the participants, starts on Tuesday and will end on January 27. The top eight will qualify directly for the round of 16 while those who finish between ninth and twenty-fourth place will play a round to complete the lineup. From there, direct qualifiers. Round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals and final at the Metropolitan stadium, Atlético Madrid’s venue, which for the second time in its history will host the Champions League final. The champion will emerge from the duel on June 5.

The Champions League starts once the market has closed, with changes to the squads, with renowned reinforcements and in some cases large investments. The Champions League title is the most prestigious at the club level and the entities accentuate their bets. PSG, which reinforced its squad year after year without success and had the best players in the world in its ranks, the most reputable coaches and the most striking stars, turned this goal into an obsession. Until the arrival of Luis Enrique and the consolidation of the project bore fruit until they became the best team in Europe and the rival to beat.

Enzo Fernández, Elliot Anderson, Bradley Barcola and Yan Diomande

Manchester City begins a new era. Without Pep Guardiola on his bench, the coach who years ago made him champion for the first time, has regenerated his squad. Rodri, Omar Marmoush, Nico González, Savinho, Tijani Reijnders, Bernardo Silva, John Stones, Manuel Akanji and Kalvin Phillips have been some of those who have left. However, it has spared no expense and has broken the record in the market with the signing of the Argentine Enzo Fernández, for 145 million Euros, which exceeds what it paid weeks ago for Elliot Anderson (135). In addition, Ayyoub Bouaddi (95 million) and Illman Ndiaye (70) have arrived, among others.

The move of Frenchman Bradley Barcola from PSG to Andoni Iraola’s Liverpool has been another striking move. Like Yan Diomandé’s to Real Madrid. Both 125 million that exceed the 87.5 that Arsenal paid for the Brazilian Bruno Guimaraes or the 80 that Barcelona paid for Anthony Gordon.

Manchester United’s return to the Champions League is accompanied by the reinforcement of Cameroonian Carlos Baleba, valued at 76 million. PSG has strengthened its squad. Barcola and the Portuguese Gonçalo Ramos, who went to Milan for 74 million, are leaving. But it has been strengthened with Maghnes Akliouche and Ferran Torres.

They are some of the names of the tournament, the new faces of the edition that begins this coming week with six games on Tuesday, as many on Wednesday and also on Thursday. In total, the eighteen of the first day that will later be spread over only two days.

Real Madrid-Inter, Liverpool-Atlético Madrid and Naples-Arsenal to whet your appetite.

After a year and a half without any title, Real Madrid, the club with the most Champions trophies in history, 15, bursts into a new attempt to recover the throne that was theirs before PSG’s conquests. He has revitalized his squad and on Tuesday he awaits Inter, whom he has beaten in nineteen of the twenty-one games they have played. They are two former champions. But the transalpine representative has not won any of his last thirteen European games as a visitor against Spanish rivals.

Kylian Mbappe, if he scores, will tie Raúl as the fifth leading scorer of all time. The Frenchman is 70. Thibaut Courtois will play his 100th match in the event. Jose Mourinho also reunites with one of his former teams, with which he was champion of the Champions League in 2010.

On Wednesday, Atlético Madrid visits Anfield to play with Liverpool now led by the Spanish Andoni Iraola. Last year’s face-to-face is repeated, also on the opening day. The reds won 3-2. However, some time ago, in 2020, the red and white team, led by Marcos Llorente, won in this stadium and eliminated the English team. Koke will reach 150 games in Europe.

Arsenal are favorites for the visit to Naples. Runners-up last year, Mikel Arteta’s team has three wins and one loss in head-to-head matches. Last year the Gunners were the team with the fewest goals scored.

PSG, current champion, begins its title defense and welcomes Slovan Bratislava, who returns to the tournament. Two years ago, they lost all eight games in the league phase.

Barcelona, ​​another of the big favorites and which has this competition between its eyebrows that it has not won for eleven years, receives the Dutch Feyenoord on Wednesday. Lamine Yamal is two goals away from equaling Kylian Mbappe’s record for most goals scored in the Champions League by a player twenty years old or younger, with thirteen goals. It is the highest scoring team in Europe in the last two years.

Villarreal begins a new attempt in the Champions League after the disappointment of last year, when it was eliminated in the league phase, with its visit to Signal Iduna Park against Borussia Dortmund. They already played the previous year and the German representative beat the Spanish 4-0.

For Betis, the highest continental competition is a prize. Visit Lille, which has only lost one of nine games against Spanish rivals. The Sevillian team returns to this event twenty-one years later and fell in the group stage.

In addition, Bayern, another of the usual candidates, a semi-finalist last year, starts with the boisterous Norwegian Bodo/Glimt while Manchester United, once again a member of the tournament’s poster after years of absence, receives one of the debutants, Sabah from Azerbaijan. Cesc Fabregas’s Como, another of the new players, plays at home against Leipzig while City makes its debut in Portugal, against Porto.