Luis Enrique’s side retained their title last season with a penalty shootout win over Arsenal in Budapest, a year after lifting the trophy for the first time in the club’s history.
That back-to-back success already puts PSG in rare company, matching a feat only Real Madrid had achieved since the Champions League format began in 1992.
A third straight title would put them alongside an even shorter list: Real Madrid’s Zidane-era treble between 2016 and 2018, Ajax’s run from 1971 to 1973, and Bayern Munich’s from 1974 to 1976, with Madrid’s dominance of the competition’s earliest years (1956-1960) sitting apart from that group entirely.
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“Our objectives are clear. I want to win important trophies and there are none more important than the Champions League,” said Luis Enrique, who also guided Barcelona to the title back in 2015.
PSG have found the expanded 36-team league phase tricky in each of the last two seasons, finishing outside the automatic knockout spots both times and needing to come through a play-off round just to reach the last 16. This year brings another testing set of opponents in Manchester City, Barcelona and Aston Villa.
Arsenal will hope to go one better than last season’s final defeat, having lost in the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final in three consecutive campaigns.
They open this year’s league phase, which they topped outright last time out, with a difficult trip to Napoli. Five English clubs are involved altogether, with City and Liverpool joined by a returning Manchester United and Aston Villa.
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Elsewhere, Bayern Munich remain among the favourites, Barcelona will fancy another push for the trophy, and Jose Mourinho returns to Real Madrid aiming to bring Champions League football back to the Bernabéu.
Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid, the latter hoping to reach a final staged at their own stadium, could also have their say.
The competition welcomes several newcomers this year too. Como qualified after finishing fourth in Serie A under Cesc Fabregas, edging out both AC Milan and Juventus, while Viking Stavanger reach the group stage for the first time following their first Norwegian title in 34 years.
Sabah, Azerbaijan’s champions, open with a trip to Old Trafford, with participation alone worth close to €20 million to a club from a smaller league, a sum dwarfed by the roughly €90 million PSG could bank simply for winning it all again.
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– AFP
Photo: REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
