A New Awakening in Paris: PSG is Coming for The Champions League

A New Awakening in Paris: PSG is Coming for The Champions League

Chandler Milligan

There are few things in football more inevitable than Paris Saint-Germain running away with the Ligue 1 title.

Perhaps Bayern Munich winning the Bundesliga is a close second.

But generally, the shock comes when they don’t win.

Nobody is going to pat Luis Enrique’s PSG on the back for running almost unopposed to their 13th title, but for those who have watched the Parisians dominate in France and crumble in Europe, this Paris side looks different.

With a 1-0 victory over Angers on Sunday morning, PSG celebrated their fourth consecutive Ligue 1 title and their 11th in 13 years since being taken over by Qatar Sports Investments in 2011.

They achieved this feat in just 28 games and, most notably, are still undefeated in the French League this season. With six games remaining in the current campaign, Enrique’s side has the potential to make history as the first French club to achieve an invincible league campaign.

If the Parisians are able to keep the wheels turning until the end of the season, they will join an elite circle of European clubs that includes AC Milan, Arsenal, Juventus, Celtic, and Bayer Leverkusen.

With the Ligue 1 title secured, a Trophée des Champions trophy lifted, and a place in the Coupe De France Final locked in, Paris Saint-Germain can now return their focus to the title that has evaded their grasp over the span of President Nasser Al-Khelaifi’s ambitious reign.

And this time, they look serious.

PSG’s Champions League project has been far from successful over the last decade, with their various super teams failing to make an impact on the biggest stage.

Almost €2 billion has been spent by the QSI since taking over the club in 2011, and they are becoming famous for their embarrassing European exits each season.

The club were competing in the Europa League when Al-Khelaifi took over at the Parc des Princes. He wasted no time kicking the project into gear, appointing Carlo Ancelotti as Head Coach and signing Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Ezequiel Lavezzi, Thiago Silva, Lucas Moura, and David Beckham.

While the domestic silverware was easy to come by, conquering the UEFA Champions League was easier said than done. In the first four seasons of Al-Khelaifi’s dynasty, PSG were knocked out of the competition in the quarter-finals every year.

Superstar names and fan-favourites like Edinson Cavani, Angel Di Maria, and David Luiz all joined the cause as PSG looked to buy their passage to the summit of European football.

A historic and humiliating 4-0 collapse against FC Barcelona saw PSG exit the Round of 16 with a 6-5 aggregate defeat, and more cash was burned in pursuit of glory.

Paris Saint-Germain quite literally broke the market when they spent €222 million to trigger Neymar Jr’s release clause.

They followed up quickly by signing 17-year-old Kylian Mbappe from AS Monaco after his breakout title-winning campaign the season prior.

It didn’t change a thing. PSG exited the UCL in the Round of 16 again. And made it a hattrick of first-round exits the following year against Manchester United.

At the turn of the decade, PSG finally broke their tired pattern, and put together their best UCL campaign to date. Albeit unconventional due to the COVID-19 pandemic, PSG battled their way into their first-ever UEFA Champions League Final and were defeated 1-0 by Hansi Flick’s indomitable Bayern Munich.

They followed up with an admirable campaign that ended in the semi-finals, and when Lionel Messi joined on a free transfer, it seemed inevitable that the trio of Neymar, Mbappe, and Messi would break the UCL curse.

Nothing clicked, and PSG were eliminated in the Round of 16 two seasons in a row.

A front three featuring the greatest players of their generation, completely out of sync.

To many football purists, Paris Saint-Germain and their European Project have stood testament to the belief that you can’t buy football.

PSG represent a masterclass in business and marketing but a total failure in football.

Messi and Neymar departed, like so many players before them, with nothing positive to say about their time in Paris, and President Nasser Al-Khelaifi was forced to start again from square one.

Luis Enrique was brought in to steer the club in a fresh direction, and a dozen new faces arrived as the dawn of a new era commenced at the Parc des Princes.

Ousmane Dembele, Bradley Barcola, Lucas Hernandez and Randal Kolo Muani saw many French faces arrive at the club.

Luis Enrique led his team to a domestic treble in his first season, while also returning to the Champions League semi-finals after a massive second-leg victory against his former side FC Barcelona. They were defeated unexpectedly by a brave Borussia Dortmund outfit and now approach the pointy end of another brilliant UCL campaign.

After finishing 15th in the UCL table format after an uncomfortable start, PSG decimated Brest with a 10-0 aggregate victory to ensure their place in the Round of 16.

They were handed one of the toughest challenges in the competition, facing Arne Slot’s table-topping (and soon to be Premier League-winning) Liverpool side, and showed conviction not often seen as they overturned a 1-0 deficit to win a dramatic penalty shootout 4-1 at Anfield.

PSG are now looking ahead to a quarter-final clash against Aston Villa, with a semi-final matchup against Arsenal or Real Madrid to follow if they are successful.

If they were to return to the Champions League Final for the first time in five years, they would face either FC Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, or Inter Milan.

And honestly, they should back themselves to go toe-to-toe with all of those sides.

See, this isn’t the same lacklustre side that sulked with their heads bowed every time they faced adversity. With the decade of divas and the past-his-prime legends out the door, Paris Saint-Germain are now united and effective.

Luis Enrique might have looked like a madman to many when he suggested that PSG would perform better without their talisman, Kylian Mbappe.

But nine months into the post-Mbappe era, PSG are flying like a hawk unchained.

Ousmane Dembele has been completely reborn, contributing 32 goals in all competitions, while Bradley Barcola, Goncalo Ramos, and the breakout star Desire Doue have a combined 43 goals.

Vitinha and Joao Neves have formed a formidable Portuguese partnership in midfield, while the defensive line of Nuno Mendes, Pacho, Marquinhos, Hakimi, and Donnarumma looks difficult to beat.

With only one defeat in 2025, Paris Saint-Germain look like they have finally solved the equation that has been keeping Nasser Al-Khelaifi awake for more than a decade.

Whether they go all the way, we will have to wait and see. But with the new movement at the Parc des Princes, it’s clear that their old ways are behind them, and Paris Saint-Germain are ready to conquer the Champions League.