‘Die Mester! Die Besten!! Les Grandes Equi…’, well, you get the idea. After the play-off and qualifying rounds, the sham that nobody cares about, the Champions League enters the group stage, the sham part that everyone cares about. It may be a designated cash-grab – which will get even worse from 2024 – but at least this is the part where your goals start to count in the competition’s record books.
As always, the start of a Champions League group stage is time to look ahead at the big hitters, and the sides gunning for glory. Many times, it’s a time to look at Paris St. Germain and wonder whether they finally have the stuff to be European champion or wonder how they’ll fail again; sometimes it’s both. In the past, PSG have gone out of the Champions League in different ways; the great first leg followed by implosion, the double-legged implosion where they dominated big parts, the dominating-but-collapsing-late-on, or the one where everyone agreed they couldn’t do more than that, among others.
Yet, last season was different. For the first time in a while, PSG got knocked out of the Champions League in the most unexciting way. Against Bayern Munich in the Last 16, there was no dramatic goal to send them home, or some cataclysmic turn of events. They just petered out and got dumped in the most unceremonious and boring fashion, so much so that one would almost feel sorry for them.
It’s another season, another reset for Le Parisiens. Christophe Galtier has left the managerial role, for a ton of reasons, as well as reasons that weigh tons, to be replaced by former Spain and Barcelona boss Luis Enrique. Usually, with PSG, it starts with the ‘they look like they might get it right’ phase, before the inevitable chaos and collapse. But there seems to be a change in tack, in the sense that the chaos has come already.
This summer was, once again, dominated by Kylian Mbappe, who came up with a new game of bother with the club, causing a ripple effect so large there were concrete rumours that Luis Enrique might leave even before a first competitive game (he didn’t). Then, there are the departures of Lionel Messi, Neymar, and now Marco Verratti, perhaps leaving room for this to be a team moulded for Mbappe.
The acquisitions made by the club this summer seem to speak to a change in direction, in terms of personnel (we’ve heard that one before), and it looks like there might be a cohesive unit of great players, that would elevate the side as a whole (also heard that one before). So far, though, the league start has been uninspiring. It’s not just the lack of wins, it’s the lack of bite in the side so far, and a tepidness around the style on the pitch. They demolished Lyon before the International break, but everything else has been incredibly bland. However, PSG can take solace in the fact that A) It’s early doors in the season, and, most importantly B) it doesn’t look like any of Europe’s top guns are set to dominate the continent this season.
Manchester City became champions last season, achieving a dream both they and PSG have long sought after, a first European Cup title. Pep Guardiola’s team did that while standing out as the best side on the continent, dispatching Bayern Munich and Real Madrid on the way, although they did ride their luck against Inter in the final. But if City became the best because they stood out, now they look the best by default.
Real Madrid remain perennial hot shots for the title, having won it in five of the last ten seasons, sometimes despite having their backs against the wall. Yet, for the first time, Real don’t seem to have the huge personalities to ride past the big names when things aren’t going well. The arrival of Jude Bellingham has been eye-catching, and his performances so far even more so, and he does look set to dominate the continent for years to come. But his performances this season have A) Come against lower-ranked sides, and B) not hidden how much Real are lacking up front.
Yet, Los Blancos are still better equipped than their main Spanish rivals in terms of a Champions League assault. Winning the Spanish title last season didn’t really prevent Barcelona from graduating from no-longer-the-force-they-once-were to no one’s mainstream cup of tea. The current Spanish have reached the Champions League semi-final once in eight years, haven’t gotten past the group stage in either of the previous two seasons, and have won just four games in the competition since November 2020. Meanwhile, Atletico Madrid are more or less in the same boat; they haven’t gone beyond the quarter-finals just once in the past seven seasons, and finished of their group stage last campaign.
In Germany, Bayern Munich haven’t gone past the Last 8 since their clean sweep in 2020, and they haven’t shown the aura and fear-factor that had Europe on its knees back then either; last season as notable for the club pretty much shooting themselves on the shoot in terms of dismissing Julian Nagelsmann and hiring Thomas Tuchel, an action which nearly, and should, have cost them the title. The presence of Harry Kane fixes a major problem they had last season, in the absence of Robert Lewandowski, and Leroy Sane is finding form early on this term, but the conviction still remains very much lacking, and in the past few seasons, Die Roten have looked incapable of taking similar sides in Europe to the wire.
Last season’s runners-up Inter have reassembled quite well after losing a few key players, under perennial cup manager, Simone Inzaghi, the Nerazzurri shouldn’t rule out going better than last term. City rivals Milan have also undergone promising recruitment in the summer, and a mature team will be looking forward to this campaign, having reached the semi-finals last time out. Then there’s Napoli, the Italian champions who’d feel that they could done more than crash out in the quarter-finals last season. They’ve lost manager Luciano Spalletti, and now have Rudi Garcia in charge, the Frenchman who took Lyon to the semis in 2019/20. Just as crucially, Napoli are weaker in defence, and struggled without Victor Osimhen in the Last 8 against Milan the previous season.
In England, City are the only side from last season to also be in this year’s competition. Manchester United are returning after a one-year absence, and Arsenal are appearing for the first time since 2017, their first Champions League season without Arsene Wenger, and a chance for the team that found its feet last season to test their mettle in Europe.
Meanwhile, the headline returnee from England is Newcastle, who haven’t been here in 20 years. After a season in which Eddie Howe’s team performed above expectations, and ahead of schedule, they’ve been rewarded with group games against PSG, Milan, and Borussia Dortmund. How they fare in such a tight column will make for interesting.
The Toon Army joins a line-up of rather unexpected teams in the competition this season. There’s Lens, in France, who are back after 22 years, having finished a surprise second place in Ligue 1 last term. In Spain, Real Sociedad are back after a decade away. Then there’s Union Berlin, who were playing in the German second division five years ago. The team from the German capital have spent the past two seasons playing in the Europa Conference League and Europa League, and will now play in Europe’s top competition, the epitome of a meteoric rise.
Ol’ Big Ears is back, and the trophy remains the thirst for many. But while it might be early doors, this season’s currently feels more like no one’s than anyone’s. We’ll check back in Winter.
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