PSG's Champions League draw: Assessing a tough road to defend their crown

On Thursday, the draw for this year’s edition of the Champions League was conducted, with PSG’s eight Champions League group stage fixtures being announced. Let’s have a look through the fixtures to see what to expect from the Parisians in Europe this season.

PSG's Champions League schedule: Barcelona, Man City & more await

PSG’s Champions League campaign is set to kick-off on the 9th of September at home to Slovan Bratislava, a Slovakian team who are currently second in their country’s top flight. On paper this would appear to be PSG’s easiest fixture, although the Parisians difficult start in Ligue Un will remind them that no game in modern football can be taken for granted as a guaranteed win. The Slovakian side last qualified for the UCL in 2024, when they lost all eight group games, including a 5-1 thrashing in their opening match against Celtic. PSG will be heavy favourites for this game.

Next up are two much harder tests: first a trip to the Etihad where they will play against Manchester City, newly under the the tutelage of Enzo Maresca following Pep Guardiola’s 10-year spell at the club that came to an end this summer, and then they will host La Liga Champions Barcelona in what also promises to be an exciting match-up.

These two games arguably consist of PSG’s biggest test across the group stage fixtures; and while its good to get the hardest games out of the way early, failing to win one or both of these games could leave PSG in a tricky spot heading into the final five fixtures. PSG haven’t faced Manchester City since January 2025, when a remarkable PSG comeback at the Parc des Princes kickstarted a fine run of form that eventually led to PSG winning their first Champions League title. PSG also played Barcelona last season, although that game was at the Camp Nou in Spain, whereas now it’s PSG’s turn to play host.

Up next for PSG is a trip to Spain, where they will play Villarreal. The Spanish side, who have had a poor start to La Liga (failing to win any of their first three games), have got a Georgian star in Georges Mikautadze, meaning that both of the world’s most famous Georgian footballers will face off against each other, should Kvaratskhelia be selected for PSG.

Up next for PSG is Roma at home: The Italian side only managed to qualify for the Champions League on the final day of last season’s Serie A. Roma’s danger man is January signing Donyell Malen, who has been in fine form since joining the club, and started this season with an impressive hat-trick against Fiorentina.

PSG then travel back to England, facing Aston Villa, a team they already faced this season, in what could be a tricky game against former coach Unai Emery. Villa have sold a number of key players this summer, but have also strengthened, bringing in Alejandro Garnacho, Leon Goretska and most significantly Ibrahim Mbaye, who will perhaps have a chance to shine against his former side when the two clubs meet in early December.

PSG then travel to Como for their penultimate game, going up against Cesc Fabregas’s side who have been impressive in recent years, having come up from Serie B and rapidly established themselves as one of the premier clubs in Italy. Keeping Nico Paz was a real coup for the Italian side, who also bolstered their squad by signing players such as Chelsea’s Treboh Chalobah and Barcelona prospect Andrés Cuenca.

Finally, PSG will host Turkish side Galatasaray, whose attack still features Victor Osimhen, a striker who has been on PSG’s radar on more than one occasion. Overall, it’s not the easiest draw for the European Champions, but it has created a number of interesting looking games and PSG fans will hope that by the time the harder of the Group games come around, the side are in better form than is currently the case.

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