'Would Have Been Impossible': Champions League Returns With Struggling PSG and Manchester City Facing Off

This is the first season of the UEFA Champions League adopting it's new format and it has already caused a lot of surprises for everyone. Several of the big names in world football are being seen struggling whereas several smaller teams have risen in the standings. Real Madrid, the most decorated club in the history of the competition are currently struggling and are down in 20th place. Same is the case with heavyweights Paris Saint Germain and Manchester City who are down in 25th and 22nd in the standings of the competition. 

Struggling Man City And PSG Get Ready To Face Off 

The first Champions League games to be played in January include one with shocking possible consequences in an unpredictable debut season for the 36-team format.

Paris Saint-Germain vs. Manchester City on Wednesday is a clash of super-wealthy state-backed teams currently a barely believable 25th and 22nd in the standings.

If the 2020 beaten finalist and 2023 champion play to a draw at Parc des Princes, both could start the 18-game final round on Jan. 29 outside the top-24 places that qualify for the knockout stage.

The new format that replaced the traditional groups — now with eight games instead of six, facing eight different opponents, and two in January — is unknown territory even for UEFA, whose preseason prediction that eight points should ensure advancing likely will fall short. 

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However, few imagined what would play out in the first six rounds.

Man City and PSG have struggled, Real Madrid has lost half its games in 20th place despite adding Kylian Mbappé to a title-winning team, and lowest-ranked debutant Brest has cruised to four wins and seventh in the standings, just ahead of Lille. 

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“It would have been impossible to list these eight clubs as being in the top eight positions,” Giorgio Marchetti, the UEFA deputy general secretary, told The Associated Press in a recent interview. “There is a lot of new fresh air.”

“I think the format has an impact,” Marchetti said, pointing to comments by Inter Milan coach Simone Inzaghi that it is more difficult to prepare for eight different opponents instead of three. “It is more of a challenge.” 

(With AP Inputs)