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PSG inherited Juventus Turin as their main opponent in the Champions League group stage, according to the draw made on Thursday. Olympique de Marseille, Frankfurt, Tottenham and Sporting Lisbon are, for their part, in group D.
The draw for the Champions League, carried out on Thursday August 25 in Istanbul, gave PSG as the main opponent of Juventus Turin, in the group stage. Olympique de Marseille, for its part, was relatively spared by inheriting the Germans from Eintracht Frankfurt, the English from Tottenham and the Portuguese from Sporting Lisbon in group D.
While PSG, protected by their seeded status, inherited a group well within their reach, Olympique de Marseille, placed in hat 4, had reason to fear a tough draw, but OM will have finally a shot to play in a weak group D, with Eintracht Frankfurt, the English club Tottenham and Sporting Lisbon.
Paris and its stars will evolve for their part within a group H which, in addition to Juve, will include Benfica Lisbon and the Israelis of Maccabi Haifa.
PSG well underway, hope is slim for OM
Mbappé, Neymar, Messi and others, who have made a great start to the season in Ligue 1, will therefore be widely favored in the forecasts to obtain one of the two qualifying places for the 8e final of an event that the club from the capital dreams more than ever of winning.
In addition, if Juventus Turin appears to be a tough opponent, the Turinese will have to find the right fuel between now and the double shock against PSG, given their sluggish start to the championship.
For OM, the ambition is much lower, but the lenient Istanbul draw could lead the Olympians to dream of qualifying in 8e of final.
The last two campaigns of the Phocaeans in C1 (2013-14 and 2020-2021) have been very disappointing, with eleven defeats in 12 matches, but they have a card to play in a group which promises to be very open, with a Portuguese club (Sporting) and German (Frankfurt) and English (Tottenham) teams which are not among the biggest teams in their championships.
The last time OM qualified for the 8e final of C1, it was during the 2011-12 season, with Didier Deschamps as coach. The Olympians had been eliminated in the quarter-finals by Bayern.
These group matches will take place from September 6 to November 2, a very tight schedule due to the World Cup being held from November 20 in Qatar.
With AFP