Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Atalanta, Leverkusen, Tottenham, Sporting, Newcastle, and Bilbao. The Champions League draw was not kind to Paris Saint-Germain . In fact, Opta confirmed that it was the toughest draw ever, along with Bayern's. This was already the case last season. And this was obviously noticed by Luis Enrique , the Parisian coach, who is clearly not a fan of the new formula.
"I think that in my opinion to really analyze this, to be honest, I have to wait until next year, the next draw. And if I see the same thing, then the computer button doesn't work!" he first joked, before becoming more serious. "It's important for us to know that this new format is nice for some teams but the 36 teams have different calendars, and the calendar is an important condition to be in the top 8. With our calendar, it will be like last year, it will be normal to lose points because our opponents are of a high standard."
Not happy to be back in Barcelona
Then the Spanish coach explained his reasoning. "There are no easy matches, no easy teams in our schedule. We were a bit lucky in Pot 2, but we took the most difficult teams from Pots 1, 3, and 4. It will be difficult to be in the top 8. We can do it, but it will be very difficult. It's the competition, we have to accept it ." He also spoke about his return to Barcelona, the former coach and player of the Catalan club.
"It's nice to play against Barcelona because it's my home, but I'm not happy with this draw, because it's a difficult feeling to assess ," he said. As you can see, Luis Enrique is not particularly happy with the draw reserved for PSG, considered as difficult, if not more so, than last season's. And PSG came close to being eliminated in the league phase, before going on to win the Holy Grail a few months later.
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