2023 Champions League Draw Recap: PSG in Group of Death
Man City Still Favorites
PSG in Group of Death
Early last week, six teams sealed qualification to the UEFA Champions League through the playoff round. With the 32-team field set, the Champions League draw took place last Thursday in Monaco. In our 2023 Champions League draw recap, we’ll take a closer look at the groups and the biggest storylines associated with them. Defending champions Manchester City have unchanged odds after the draw but that’s not the case for the teams in Group F, which is the clear “Group of Death”.
Group of Death Promises Entertainment
Paris Saint-Germain seem to consistently find themselves with difficult Champions League draws and this season is no exception. PSG will play the group stage double round robin vs. Borussia Dortmund, AC Milan, and Newcastle United. This is undoubtedly the group of death in 2023-24 and only two of the four teams can advance to the round of 16.
It’ll undoubtedly be interesting to see Kylian Mbappe and PSG take on upstart Newcastle at St. James’ Park. Currently, Newcastle actually shows the second-best odds to win the group, at +225. The Magpies haven’t reached the UCL group stage since 2002-03 but they’ve built quite a complete team. They signed former AC Milan midfielder Sandro Tonali this Summer along with Harvey Barnes, Tino Livramento, and Lewis Hall.
Tonali, who was tipped to be a future AC Milan captain, will return to his old stomping ground when Newcastle takes on AC Milan on the UEFA Champions League schedule on September 19th. All of PSG, AC Milan, and Borussia Dortmund reached the knockout stage last season but PSG is the most likely of the bunch to return. The Parisians are +110 favorites to win the group, while Dortmund and Milan come in at +500 odds.
Man City in Favorable Group
Our 2023 Champions League draw recap notes that Manchester City’s path to the knockout stage is quite clear. They opened at +200 odds to win the UCL once again and show the same odds now. Erling Haaland should have plenty of opportunities to score as City takes on RB Leipzig, Red Star Belgrade, and BSC Young Boys. City played RB Leipzig in the 2022-23 round of 16 and came away with an 8-1 win on aggregate.
Plus, City poached Josko Gvardiol over the Summer, who was Leipzig’s most promising defender. Haaland scored five goals in City’s 7-0 second leg victory as well and the Norwegian was the Champions League’s leading scorer last season. Haaland shows +120 odds to repeat as the competition’s top scorer.
Notably, neither Red Star Belgrade nor Young Boys have ever made it past the group stage in the Champions League era. City and Leipzig are huge favorites to advance to the round of 16 as a result. Man City are -900 favorites to finish first in the Champions League standings for the seventh season running.
Other Groups
In Group A, Harry Kane will return to England as his Bayern Munich face off vs. Manchester United. Both teams should advance to the knockout stage as they’re paired with FC Copenhagen and Galatasaray.
Arsenal is finally back in the Champions League and has a favorable group, all things considered. They’ll take on Europa League champions Sevilla, PSV Eindhoven and Lens.
Two of the most exciting matches in the group stage could be between Napoli and Real Madrid in Group C. They both have some of the best-attacking talents in the world. However, Vinicius Jr. could miss their first meeting on October 3rd. SC Braga and Union Berlin are also in Group C. Union Berlin’s first Bundesliga appearance was only four years ago and they’re in their first UCL now.
Group D could be the most wide-open of the bunch, with Benfica, Inter Milan, RB Salzburg, and Real Sociedad. Benfica and 2023 UCL finalists Inter Milan should go through but anything can happen.
Group E is another relatively wide-open group, with Feyenoord, Atletico Madrid, Lazio, and Celtic. Diego Simeone’s Atletico are the favorites to win the group and Lazio will fancy their chances to advance as well but they’ve started off the Serie A season poorly.
Last but not least in our 2023 Champions League draw recap, Group H features Barcelona, Porto, Royal Antwerp, and Shakhtar Donetsk. This appears to be quite a straightforward group for Barcelona, who have been eliminated in the group stage in each of the last two seasons.
