PSG to retain Champions League? Bookies unsure, but Chelsea display boosts beliefs

According to most bookmakers, PSG are fourth favourites to win the Champions League, behind Arsenal, Bayern Munich and Barcelona. PSG are currently priced at 6/1 to retain the Champions League, but fans of the club will be increasingly confident after a crushing win over Chelsea reminds Europe of just how clinical PSG’s attackers can be.

Earlier this season, there were serious doubts about PSG’s European credentials, with the European Champions looking slightly underwhelming in the League Phase of the Champions League. Their first knockout game, against Monaco, was also middling, with the Monégasques having a player sent off in each leg of the tie. Additionally, PSG’s league form was also questioned, with a number of points dropped by Luis Enrique’s men against ostensibly weaker sides.

PSG Champions League chances: Can they retain their title?

However, the Round of 16 game against Chelsea really did feel like a turning point in PSG’s season – for the first time this campaign, PSG’s attack looked at its absolute ruthless best, with Ousmane Dembélé, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Bradley Barcola all scoring fine goals across both legs to see the Parisians into the quarter-finals with an impressive 8-2 aggregate score line.

Last season, a big part of PSG’s success came down to their ability to peak at the right time of the season: also then, they were inconsistent over the first few months of the campaign, but once they kicked into gear, they proved impossible to stop. There is a strong sense that they may just repeat the trick this season: as with last season’s last-16 win over Liverpool, a victory over an English side in an early knockout game will do them the world of confidence.

Were PSG to retain the Champions League title, they would become the first side to do so since Real Madrid’s threepeat which concluded in 2018. Notably, five of the last six Champions League winners were eliminated at the quarter-final stage the following season, which is now the next hurdle PSG must face. If they manage to overcome Liverpool and reach the semi-finals, a tough matchup then awaits them, as they take on one of two European titans; either Real Madrid or Bayern Munich.

History, then, is against PSG and shows that even some of the greatest and most dominant sides of European football (Pep’s Barca, Bayern 2013-15) cannot defend a Champions League title. Were this PSG to do so this season, their names would be even further carved into footballing history.