PSG Expert Makes Interesting Barcelona Claim for Champions League | OneFootball

The UEFA Champions League draw is on August 28 and it’s the second year in which PSG will play in the league phase. UEFA’s new format benefited the Parisians as they found their groove late in the league phase and used it to push themselves to the title.

Last season, PSG faced some of the biggest clubs in Europe during the league phase with clashes against Arsenal, Atletico Madrid, Bayern Munich, and Manchester City.

As a result, it should be expected that the Ligue 1 side will draw at least four heavyweights to face in the league phase. So, who would one PSG expert want the reigning Champions League winners to face?

Could PSG draw Barcelona in the league phase?

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The capital club was close to facing Barcelona in the Champions League final, but Inter Milan was able to advance. As a result, many were left wanting to see manager Luis Enrique take on his former club again after pulling off a remontada in 2023.

Nonetheless, Barcelona was eliminated, and Inter Milan would lose 5-0 in the final. With a desire for another PSG-Barcelona matchup, Robin Bairner, chief editor at Football Transfers, wants these two clubs to draw each other during the league phase.

“I’d like to see just how good this Barcelona team are,” Bairner said on the latest “Ensemble PSG Podcast.” “So I probably don’t want to see PSG Barcelona in September, for example, before PSG are really at it. But maybe the end of November or even the start of next year, I’d like to see how good this Barca team is.”

Does Barcelona need a real challenge?

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The main reason Bairner wants to see Barcelona face off against PSG is that the Spanish side wasn’t challenged last season.

“They’ve managed to build this incredible reputation of being brilliant, having not really beaten anybody at the moment, not really beaten anybody that’s elite,” Bairner added.

“I know in La Liga, they face Real Madrid and they’ve smashed Real Madrid a few times. But equally, the Real Madrid that we saw last season isn’t a particularly good Real Madrid team. How good they are this year also is a little bit up for debate. Barcelona didn’t face any Premier League teams last year, so they made the run to the semi-final of course and then got beaten by Inter.

“So I would love to see PSG play Barcelona just to see how they measure up, because I think Barcelona—or my hot take is that Barcelona—are a little bit overrated at the moment. I’d like to see that as a tie.”