The bright lights of the Parc des Princes will shine down on one of today’s headline Champions League openers, as Paris Saint-Germain welcome German giants Borussia Dortmund to the French capital in Group F.
The two continental behemoths were drawn against one another in this year’s group of death, where Newcastle United and seven-time winners AC Milan are also vying for the top two spots.
For the fourth time in four years, a new face will be commencing PSG’s latest bid for Champions League supremacy, which Thomas Tuchel, Mauricio Pochettino, Christophe Galtier and all those before them failed to deliver during their stints in the Parc des Princes hotseat.
Former Barcelona treble winner Luis Enrique has assumed office as he bids to repeat his Champions League success with the Blaugrana in 2015, but rather than hit the ground running in the French capital, he has led PSG to their worst points total at the start of a season since their Qatari takeover.
Indeed, the reigning Ligue 1 champions have amassed just eight points from a possible 15 so far and suffered yet another chastening home loss at the weekend, going down 3-2 to a TeremMoffi-inspired Nice, which leaves them fifth in the top-flight table – uncharted territory for the perennial title holders.
Aiming to knock a few more walls of the Parc des Princes fortress down is a Dortmund side who share Les Parisiens’ pain when it comes to missing out on glory, having come agonisingly close to ending Bayern Munich’s spate of Bundesliga dominance last season before settling for the silver medal once again.
A pair of disappointing draws against Bochum and Heidenheim before the international break means that EdinTerzic’s men are already off the pace this time around too, but a trip to Freiburg at the weekend saw Dortmund reverse a 2-1 deficit to run out 4-2 winners.
Thanks to efforts from DonyellMalen and Marco Reus, alongside the unlikeliest of braces from Mats Hummels, Dortmund stretched their unbeaten run across all competitions to 13 matches scoring in every one of those contests but they are still waiting for their first away clean sheet of the season.
Champions League winners in 1997 and losing finalists in 2013 – where Bayern were the thorn in their side once again – BVB only won two of their group-stage affairs last year before a last-16 exit to Chelsea, and only one of the visitors’ last six away matches in the competition has ended in victory, a 4-1 drubbing of Sevilla last October.
Dortmund did get the better of PSG 2-1 in the first leg of their last-16 tie in the 2019-20 Champions League, but the Tuchel-led Parisiens bit back at the Parc des Princes with a 2-0 win en route to the final, where BVB’s regular nem
esis Bayern crushed their dreams of European stardom.
While PSG’s star man KylianMbappe shook off a minor knee concern in time to start against Nice, Enrique is still coping with a large number of absentees, including Marco Asensio, who has been ruled out for the rest of the month owing to a foot injury.
Due to their late returns from South America, Marquinhos and Manuel Ugarte were not considered for starting roles on Friday, but the pair ought to replace Danilo Pereira and Carlos Soler this time around.
The Borussia Dortmund infirmary is not quite so full, but Thomas Meunier (hamstring) and Mateu Morey (knee) are not expected back until next month, while Julien Duranville is still short of match fitness. —Sports Mole
