PSG boss Luis Enrique feels his side have had a tough Champions League draw this season
Following Paris Saint-Germain’s 2-1 defeat to Sporting CP in Lisbon on Tuesday, head coach Luis Enrique has spoken of the competition’s strength this season. PSG had a particularly tough draw for the league phase and the Spanish manager has highlighted the quality in the lower pots.
PSG, who were seeded in Pot 1 for the Champions League 2025/26 draw, currently sit in sixth place and in the automatic last-16 qualification spots with 13 points. It is only goal difference that keeps them ahead of a host of other clubs on the same number of points, including their next opponents.
The French and European champions welcome Newcastle United next Wednesday in what promises to be another tough game for the Parisians. Newcastle were seeded in Pot 4 but are hot on PSG’s tails in the league table.
A difficult draw for PSG
PSG’s other Pot 4 opponents were Athletic Club, who held them to a 0-0 draw in Bilbao in December. Sporting who beat them this week were in Pot 3 and this strength in the lower seeds hasn’t gone unnoticed by Luis Enrique.
“This year, we only played one match with the team that played in the Champions League final with players at 50% and that’s how it’s been this year,” said Luis Enrique at his post-match press conference.
“If you look at the standings, out of the eight teams in our group, six are in contention to finish in the top eight. When I think about all that, the season is extraordinary, in addition to talking about Chevalier, Zabarny, and the coach.
“Sporting was not a team from pot 4. The teams from pot 4 that we faced are Tottenham [sic] and Newcastle who have 13 points.”
😡 Dro Fernández’s decision to leave Barcelona for PSG has infuriated the Catalans, and it turns out that two former Barça players engineered the move.
🤝 Dro’s agent played alongside Luis Enrique for Barcelona in the late 1990s.https://t.co/wMGuy606lY
— BB Sport News (@BBSportNews24) January 21, 2026
Can the new format increase competitiveness while reducing jeopardy?
PSG’s experience this season exemplifies the new format with all its pros and cons. Luck of the draw was always a factor, but this season the French club knew from the outset they had a tough set of fixtures.
Despite a harder-than-average list of opponents and suffering two losses so far, however, the reigning champions still look set to coast into the next round, even if results next week mean they have to do it via the play-offs.
Perhaps that is the trade-off that the new-look Champions League offers. On the one hand, more competitive fixtures, but on the other, the big clubs know they should be safe no matter what.