A look ahead to PSG's Champions League group draw 2022/23

25.08.2022, 14:26 sportingnews.com

Paris Saint-Germain will once again chase an elusive UEFA Champions League title in 2022/23. The French giants automatically booked their place in the competition after finishing first in Ligue 1 last season. PSG's 2021/22 campaign, however, failed to deliver in Europe with the club knocked out of the Champions League in the Round of 16. A second-place finish in their Champions League group landed them a date with a first-place team in Real Madrid, who executed another epic comeback to oust the Parisians. That result ultimately resulted in the departure of manager Mauricio Pochettino and new coach Christophe Galtier will be desperate to avoid a similar fate by taking PSG further in the competition this season. With a star-studded squad that includes Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe there is no reason why the club can't be Champions League contenders in 2022/23. MORE: Who will take penalties for PSG this season? Tug of war looming for spot kicks PSG qualified for the 2022/23 UEFA Champions League after winning France's Ligue 1 yet again last season. The 32 teams that qualified for the group stage are split into four pots of eight teams each. A club will be selected from each of those pots to make up each of Groups A-H. Pot 1 is reserved for the defending Champions League (Real Madrid) and Europa League winners (Eintracht Frankfurt), along with the domestic league champions of the top six countries in the UEFA country coefficient list which includes PSG. Since Real Madrid also won the Spanish title, the spot in Pot 1 reserved for the Spain winner was taken by the champions of the next best nation in the coefficient list (Dutch side Ajax). Teams in Pots 2-4 are ranked according to their UEFA club coefficient ranking. MORE: Group stage draw time, date and procedures Here's how PSG's group stage draw could play out. A reminder that they cannot be drawn against another French club per the draw rules, and in addition, if French side Marseille are drawn in groups A-D, PSG must occupy a spot in groups E-H, so as to avoid having both clubs playing group matches at the same time. This pot boasts a number of intimidating clubs with Liverpool, Chelsea and Barcelona looming as the most daunting. PSG would much prefer drawing the likes of Sevilla, RB Leipzig or Tottenham. Borussia Dortmund and Inter Milan are the sides PSG will be hoping to avoid from this pot. A kinder draw would see them pitted against Sporting CP or Shakhtar Donetsk. Despite their lowly UEFA club coefficient ranking, Club Brugge and Celtic could still pose problems from this pot. PSG notably can't draw fellow French club Olympique Marseille in the group stages. Best possible draw: Worst possible draw: Once PSG find out their three group-stage opponents, European governing body UEFA will create a group schedule in which PSG will face the other three clubs home and away on the following dates: Should PSG finish as one of the top two teams in their group at the conclusion of the six group-stage matches, they would advance to the knockout stages beginning with the Round of 16. Here's the road to the final at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul, Turkey. Despite their regular domestic success, PSG are yet to win a UEFA Champions League title. During the Champions League era (since 1992/93), they reached their first ever final in 2019/20 but were beaten 1-0 by Bayern Munich. While often falling short, the club have found real consistency in the group stages of the competition and have made it to the knockout stages for the past 10 seasons.