Champions League: Messi starts his journey with PSG this Wednesday for the trophy that the Paris team most desires

(CNN) – Lionel Messi was, without a doubt, one of the two most media signings of this season (the other, Cristiano Ronaldo to Manchester United) and probably one of the most relevant in recent years.

With this move, Messi started his new football stage with Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) for this 2020/2021 season, after spending 18 years with Barcelona.

The Argentine star already made his debut with PSG in the French league on August 29, when he entered the exchange at minute 66 for the Brazilian Neymar. And now, this Wednesday, the journey of Messi and the team begins in search of the trophy that the Parisian team most desires: the Champions League.

At 3:00 pm ET, at the Jan Breydel Stadium (Belgium), PSG will face Bruges, a match that corresponds to matchday one of the group stage of the Champions League.

PSG and Bruges belong to group A of this edition of the Champions League, and alongside them are also Manchester City (which is seeded) and Leipzig.

This is how the rest of matchday one of the Champions League will be played this Wednesday

-Beşiktaş vs. Dortmund, Vodafone Park, 12:45 pm ET

-Sheriff vs. Shakhtar Donetsk, Bolshaya Sportivnaya Arena, 12:45 pm ET

-Inter Milan vs. Real Madrid, San Siro, 3:00 pm ET

-Atlético de Madrid vs. Porto, Wanda Metropolitano Stadium, 3:00 pm ET

-Witches vs. PSG, Jan Breydel Stadium, 3:00 pm ET

-Liverpool vs. AC Milan, Anfield, 3:00 pm ET

-Manchester City vs. Leipzig, Etihad Stadium, 3:00 pm ET

-Sporting CP vs. Ajax, José Alvalade Stadium, 3:00 pm ET

The tournament that PSG wants to win the most

Since the famous squad of Real Madrid’s “galacticos” in the 2000s, no club had had as much individual talent as PSG now has with Messi, Neymar, Kylian Mbappé, Ángel Di María, Sergio Ramos, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Keylor Navas, Georginio Wijnaldum, Achraf Hakimi, among others.

But can this squad give Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), which bought PSG in 2011, the Champions League, the trophy that owners most yearn for, but has so far escaped them?

The signing of Messi by PSG not only provides Qatar with a new footballing achievement, but – given the Argentine’s status as one of the greatest players of all time – it also puts the club and its owners considerably closer to reaching their goal. final.

The signings of the sought-after goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, Messi’s old adversary Sergio Ramos, Georginio Wijnaldum and Achraf Hakimi, who join a squad that already has Neymar and Kylian Mbappé, make PSG the great favorite to win the Champions League this season.

“QSI bought PSG in 2011 because it wanted more exposure for the country before an eventual World Cup,” Christian Nourry, founder of Get French Football News, told CNN Sport.

“That World Cup (in Qatar) is coming now, it will be next year, but what has happened in the course of this decade is that we saw that Al Thani, the owner, fell in love with this club, he really took a lot of interest. on this, “Nourry added, referring to the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

“(It is) much more than a mascots project for him and he has seen this opportunity to potentially create the greatest attacking triad that we have seen in modern football with Mbappé, Neymar and Messi, but also no excuses now“to win, he added.

With information from Matias Grez *