(Football news) In this year’s group of death, where Newcastle United and seven-time champion AC Milan are also battling for the top two positions, the two continental behemoths were paired up against one another.
The newest attempt by PSG to win the Champions League, which Thomas Tuchel, Mauricio Pochettino, Christophe Galtier, and all those before them failed to accomplish during their tenures in the Parc des Princes hot seat, will be launched for the fourth time in four years by a fresh face.
Galtier left PSG after overseeing a 3-0 loss to Bayern Munich in the 2022–23 round of 16 the fifth time in seven seasons that PSG had been eliminated at the first knockout stage and the continental trophy cabinet continued to gather dust. Galtier won the mandatory Ligue 1 championship, but his departure was inevitable after the Frenchman oversaw the club’s fifth consecutive knockout round loss.
ex-Triple winner for Barcelona, attempting to replicate the Blaugrana’s Champions League triumph from 2015, Luis Enrique has taken over at PSG. However, rather than making an immediate impact in the French capital, he has guided PSG to their poorest point total at the start of a season since their Qatari ownership.
The defending Ligue 1 champions have only collected eight points out of a possible 15 thus far, and they suffered yet another humiliating home loss at the weekend, losing 3-2 to a Terem Moffi-inspired Nice, dropping them to fifth place in the standings, which is uncharted territory for the defending champions.
As PSG transitioned into the post-Lionel Messi and Neymar era, teething issues were to be expected; nevertheless, another rich summer of spending hasn’t yet had the desired impact on Tuesday’s hosts, who have now lost five of their previous nine competitive matches in front of their own supporters.
Dortmund, who last season came agonisingly close to ending Bayern Munich’s run of dominance in the Bundesliga before settling for the silver medal once more, are looking to tear down a few more walls of the Parc des Princes fortress. They share the pain of Les Parisiens when it comes to missing out on glory.
Edin Terzic’s team is already behind schedule this time around as a result of a pair of dismal draws against Bochum and Heidenheim prior to the international break, but a trip to Freiburg over the weekend saw Dortmund come back from a 2-1 deficit to win 4-2.
Dortmund extended their unbeaten streak in all competitions to 13 games, scoring in each of those games, thanks to contributions from Donyell Malen, Marco Reus, and the most unlikely of braces from Mats Hummels. However, they have yet to record a clean sheet on the road this year.
Champions League champions in 1997 and losing finalists in 2013 where Bayern was once again their biggest obstacle BVB only won two games in the group stages last season before losing to Chelsea in the round of 16. Of their last six away games in the competition, only one has resulted in a victory, a 4-1 thrashing of Sevilla in October.
Dortmund did defeat PSG 2-1 in the first leg of their Champions League matchup in 2019–20, but the Tuchel-led Parisians fought back with a 2-0 victory at the Parc des Princes to advance to the championship game, where BVB’s longtime rival Bayern Munich ended their hopes of becoming a household name in Europe.
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