Match facts: PSG vs Girona - UEFA Champions League

This Wednesday, 18 September, Paris Saint-Germain will kick off their 2024/25 UEFA Champions League campaign with a match against Girona at the Parc des Princes. After a confident 3-1 victory over Brest last Saturday, PSG will look to extend their winning ways in Europe’s premier competition.

Here are some key match facts to consider.

Match facts: PSG vs Girona - UEFA Champions League

New opponent alert

Girona will be the 44th different opponent PSG has faced in the UEFA Champions League. PSG have won their opening match against six of their last seven new opponents, although they did suffer a 4-1 defeat to Newcastle last season.

Home advantage

Only one of the last 28 teams to make their debut at the Parc des Princes in the Champions League has managed to secure an away victory. Manchester United are the exception, having won 3-1 in March 2019 (8 draws, 19 defeats for debutants).

Debut in the spotlight

This will be Girona’s first-ever match in the Champions League. The last Spanish team to make their debut in the competition was Malaga in the 2012/13 season, and the last three Spanish debutants all advanced to the knockout stages (Villarreal in 2005/06, Sevilla in 2007/08, and Malaga in 2012/13).

Strong home record

Since the start of the 2012/13 season, PSG have lost just one of their 36 home group-stage matches in the Champions League (28 wins, 7 draws). Their sole defeat came against Manchester United in October 2020 (1-2).

Fast start

PSG scored 10 goals in the first 15 minutes of the second halves of their matches during last season’s Champions League – the highest tally among all teams. In fact, over half of their goals in the competition last season were scored in this period (10 out of 19).

xG Performance

Only Manchester City (2.5) had a higher expected goals (xG) per game average than PSG (2.1) last season. However, PSG had the second-largest negative difference between their total goals and xG, with a margin of -5.9 (19 goals from 24.9 xG), ahead of only Inter Milan (-6.4).

Defensive work

Among players with over 300 minutes played, PSG’s Joao Neves averaged the most tackles and interceptions per 90 minutes of any midfielder last season in the Champions League (5.7 – four tackles, 1.7 interceptions).

Veteran debutant

Girona’s Cristhian Stuani will be 37 years and 342 days old at the time of the match. He would be the second oldest debutant in Champions League history, behind Anastasios Mitropoulos (40 years, 109 days), who made a brief appearance for Olympiacos in December 1997.

Creative playmaker

No player made more passes that broke through the opponent's defensive line than Ousmane Dembele (21) last season. Notably, nine of those passes were to his PSG teammate Achraf Hakimi – the highest number of such passes from one player to another in the last campaign.

Danjuma’s record

Girona’s Arnaut Danjuma has averaged a goal every two matches in his Champions League career, with seven goals in 14 appearances. He scored six times for Villarreal in the 2021/22 season, including the decisive goal against Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals.

* All data provided by OneFootball.