The Champions League 2025/2026 draw has reignited an old reflex: at first glance, many cried “group of death,” as if the verdict had already been delivered. This reading tic is rooted in the collective memory of PSG supporters, but it no longer reflects the club’s current identity. PSG is coming off a full and victorious 2024/2025 season and enters this campaign as the reigning European champion. Reality has caught up with the narrative… and it’s time to analyze the draw with today’s eyes, not yesterday’s fears.
The Fear Pattern: An Ingrained Legacy
Foundational traumas
This fear is not irrational: it was built on spectacular collapses that left their mark (Barça 2017, United 2019, Real Madrid 2022). Those nights of vertigo long served as mental templates: at the first setback in the calendar or the draw, the mind goes back to those wounds.
Selective memory
Except this compass is skewed. Our brains amplify the negative — a well-known negativity bias: failures stick more than successes. Add to that the availability bias: one remembers a 6–1 or a remontada far more easily than a controlled quarterfinal victory. As a result, every tough draw rekindles the “disaster scenario,” even when contemporary sporting indicators say otherwise.
Why the “group of death” narrative survives
Media and fans recycle this storytelling because it’s simple and dramatic: it offers an instantly understandable script. But it’s also a biased lens: by focusing on painful memories, one forgets that PSG has also built major European victories. Narrative outweighs fact — but it doesn’t make it truer.
The shortcut that traps
This is where the shortcut sets in: difficult draw = danger. True, but danger to be dealt with, not endured. A challenge forces preparation, raises standards, and requires tactical adjustment. It is not a preordained sentence. The real question isn’t “is this dangerous?” but rather “what is Paris worth today against this danger?”
PSG 2024/2025: When the Present Contradicts Old Fears
A trophy cabinet that changes the stakes
Last season, Paris did what is asked of great teams: win. Ligue 1, Coupe de France, and above all the Champions League — this status changes how opponents face you, and how you face yourself. The summer opened with a UEFA Super Cup, another marker of continuity. This PSG is decorated, experienced, and used to pressure.
Visible structural progress
Luis Enrique has brought new foundations. Vitinha confirmed his role as technical leader, Willian Pacho stabilized the defense, Achraf Hakimi rediscovered consistency worthy of his status, and João Neves added maturity in midfield. The team now knows how to switch from a high press to a mid-block without falling apart and how to manage weaker phases through long possession spells.
A stronger mentality at last
Nothing erodes the “fear pattern” more than calmly navigating adverse scenarios. In 2024/2025, Paris showed newfound composure in late-game situations, with the ability to kill matches at the right moment. The tag of European champions is more than symbolic: it validates collective experience at the very top level.
Reading the Draw Differently: From Crash Test to Catalyst
Formidable opponents… not untouchable
Yes, Paris will face giants in the league phase. But no team is untouchable, and the eight-game format leaves room to maneuver: hold your ground against the big sides and capitalize against the rest. This roadmap is hardly utopian for the reigning European champions.
A challenge that raises the bar from the outset
This kind of schedule has a benefit: it immediately sets the standard very high. Big matches calibrate intensity and prevent drifting into the lethargy of an easy group stage. Paris has often suffered from arriving “cold” in the knockouts: this time, as last year, the team will be immersed in high intensity right from the start.
The Parc des Princes factor
In this context, the Parc is a weapon again. Since 2024/2025, Paris has been nearly unbeatable there: in Ligue 1 and in the Champions League, home win rate exceeded 80%. More than that, the Parc has become a place where Paris knows how to “freeze” weak phases, keep the ball to lull the opponent, and reignite intensity at the right moment.
When groups look tight, having a fortress like the Parc — capable of turning European nights into locked-down events — is a priceless asset. While talk often revolves around PSG’s “difficult” away trips, we shouldn’t forget what the team can do at home.
Breaking Free from the Mental Trap
That’s the real challenge: stop reading every difficulty as a repetition of trauma, and start treating it as a situational test. A tough draw is not a curse; it’s a chance to validate a level already reached.
Three Telling Numbers
- Parc des Princes: 17 wins in 19 matches across all competitions in 2024/2025 (including 5/5 in the Champions League).
- Average possession: 61% in the 2024/2025 Champions League, with sequences above 70% during weaker phases — proof of an ability to “freeze” tempo.
- xGA (expected goals against): 0.85 per match in the UCL with Pacho starting, compared to 1.3 without him — showing his defensive impact.
Conclusion
The “group of death” is first and foremost a media formula recycling old anxieties. But this PSG is no longer the team of traumas: it is European champion, more structured, more mature. The 2024/2025 titles are tangible proof. So rather than trembling at the draw, it’s better to see it as the promise of another epic. Because the only real trap is not the opponent — it’s continuing to be afraid of your own shadow.
