Our opponents in the Champions League

Last night's draw for the group stage of the Champions League was held in Istanbul. Club ended up in the leaden but attractive Group A with Manchester City, PSG and RB Leipzig. Next campaign will be the 50th European season for Club. Blue-Black has never played against Manchester City or RB Leipzig. That means the number of European opponents Club has faced in those 50 years is exactly 125.

Manchester City

The Citizens are currently third in the UEFA rankings and played the final of the Champions League last season. In that they lost 1-0 to Chelsea after a goal by Kai Havertz. In its history, Man City became champions of England seven times, won six FA Cups, won the League Cup eight times and in 1970 they won the European Cup two.

In 2008, Sheikh Mansour, United Arab Emirates, took over the blue half of Manchester. Spaniard Pep Guardiola has been at the helm of the English club since 2016. Club and Man City never played each other before. Goalkeeper Geert De Vlieger is the only player who has defended both the colors of City and Blue-Black.

Kevin De Bruyne is of course the best known face at our opponent. This summer, the blue and whites broke their transfer record by paying 117 million euros for Jack Grealish. Man City started the season 3 out of 6 after a defeat against Tottenham and a win against Norwich.

PSG

The Parisians are currently seventh in the UEFA rankings. PSG became champions of France nine times in its history. They also captured 14 Coupes De France, 9 Coupes de la Ligue, a European Cup 2, and an Intertoto Cup. Last season, PSG surprisingly finished second in the Ligue 1 behind champion Lille. In the Champions League, they were eliminated in the semifinals against out-and-out Manchester City.

Club and PSG looked each other in the eye earlier, namely during the group stage of the Champions League 2019-2020. At home, Blue-Black lost by heavy 0-5 figures after a hat-trick by Kylian Mbappe. Charles De Ketelaere made his European debut against Les Parisiens. In Paris, it was 1-0 for the home team.

Five players have a leave at both clubs. Khalilou Fadiga, David Rozehnal and Thomas Meunier featured at both Brugge and Paris. Stanley Nsoki and Ruben Providence, both active at Club, both received their youth training at PSG.

Coach Mauricio Pochettino's star-studded squad gained some big names this summer. Lionel Messi was bought for free from Barcelona, Ramos was picked up for free from Real Madrid, Wijnaldum and Donnarumma came over for free from Liverpool and AC Milan respectively. In addition, the club plunked down 60 million for Hakimi. PSG started the new season with nine out of nine.

RB Leipzig

RB Leipzig is currently 21st in the UEFA rankings. The club was only founded in 2009 with the help of main sponsor Red Bull who wanted to revitalize soccer in the Leipzig region. The red and whites climbed through the German series at a scorching pace, rising five levels in seven seasons. In 2016, the club secured promotion to the Bundesliga. Since the 2017-2018 season, RB Leipzig has consistently been among the (sub)top teams in Germany. Last season they finished second behind champion Bayern Munich.

Club and Leipzig have little in common. Both teams never played each other officially before and have no former players in common. This summer, American Jesse March made the switch from RB Salzburg to RB Leipzig. With that he took over the helm of trainer Julian Nagelsmann who left for Bayern Munich

Die Roten Bullen acquired André Silva from Frankfürt this summer, saw Brian Brobbey cross from Ajax and plucked Gvardiol away from Dinamo Zagreb. They started the league 3 out of 6 after a defeat against Mainz and victory against Stuttgart.