PSG begin title defence as Champions League kicks off

Paris Saint-Germain put their title on the line as this season's Champions League begins this week, with another gruelling campaign in store and an armada of English teams setting out to conquer Europe.

PSG ended over a decade of disappointment in continental competition when they lifted the trophy in May, tearing Inter Milan apart in the final.

That was the 17th match of their European campaign, in a marathon season which spanned 11 months and 65 games before concluding with defeat by Chelsea in the Club World Cup final.

Now Luis Enrique's brilliant team go again, with the dream of pulling off the extremely rare feat of retaining the European Cup but wary of the toll such a schedule may take.

After a dramatically shortened close-season break, they have already lost Ballon d'Or contender Ousmane Dembele and young star Desire Doue to injuries that rule them out of Wednesday's game against Atalanta.

Last year at least proved to PSG, and others, that the new format offers some margin for error.

With the top 24 in the 36-team league phase reaching the knockouts, three defeats in eight matches did not stop teams progressing.

Getting into the top eight and qualifying directly for the last 16 is more challenging.

"Getting five wins and a draw to finish in the top eight is difficult," said PSG coach Luis Enrique.

"But our objective as a team is to try to win the Champions League."

PSG started poorly last season before recovering, notably eliminating league phase winners Liverpool in the last 16. 

Barcelona, Arsenal and Inter all reached the semi-finals after finishing in the top four in the league phase.

- Six English clubs -

The Qatar-owned French side have already faced six Premier League outfits in 2025 and that is also how many English clubs will feature in the league phase.

That constitutes a sixth of all places in the main phase of a competition supposed to represent all of Europe going to the continent's richest league.

Because UEFA's rules prevent two clubs from the same country facing each other before the knockouts, every other club has been handed one or two games against Premier League opposition -- with the exceptions of Juventus and Portuguese champions Sporting.

It is difficult to withstand the might of the Premier League, whose clubs enjoy huge financial advantages over almost all the rest of the continent.

Of the 36 remaining teams, 22 come from England, Spain, Germany, Italy or France. Only 16 countries are represented out of UEFA's 55 member associations.

PSG's triumph last season was the first time since 2004 that the European champions had not been from England, Spain, Germany or Italy.

The club that wins this season's final in Budapest will surely emerge from that same narrow band.

If the pool of potential champions is narrow, UEFA insists the new format introduced last season has spiced up the competition.

"We're convinced it will be a resounding success that overshadows everything we've achieved in the past," said Giorgio Marchetti, UEFA's deputy general secretary.

"This format is here to stay."

Yet a relative lack of serious jeopardy for the biggest clubs in the league phase makes it hard to know how significant many mouthwatering clashes will turn out to be.

There are plenty heavyweight match-ups, including Liverpool against Atletico Madrid, Bayern Munich versus Chelsea, Manchester City versus Kevin De Bruyne's Napoli, and Newcastle United facing Barcelona, all in the first week.

"It's always special to play against the best teams," said Bayern's Manuel Neuer, but then again a total of 144 games will be played to eliminate 12 clubs.

It is not just about the very biggest names.

- Outsiders -

Kairat Almaty are just the second team from Kazakhstan to reach the Champions League proper and will play host to Real Madrid.

Bodo/Glimt, from north of the Arctic Circle, are the first Norwegians in the Champions League proper in 18 years. Cypriot champions Pafos feature too.

These clubs might struggle to reach the knockouts, but they will take in enormous riches from UEFA, money which could allow them to dominate their domestic leagues for the foreseeable future.

Just being in the league phase is worth 18.62 million euros as an absolute minimum.

The Champions League winners can pocket more than 100 million euros in prize money, before adding millions more from television and coefficient ranking -- it is understood PSG earned close to 150 million euros in total last season.

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