This Sunday at 8:45 p.m. (CET), Paris Saint-Germain will face Nantes at the Stade de la Beaujoire as part of Matchday 1 of the 2025-2026 Ligue 1 season. At a press conference, Nantes coach Luis Castro spoke about this match and the Parisian opponent. When asked about the “right time” to face PSG, he was cautious and spoke of immense determination.
Luis Castro: “It depends on how you look at it.”
“It could be a good time for Paris too because we’re on the road to new things. They have the same team as last year; it depends on how you look at it. We’re still at the beginning of many things. Paris has the same team, the same players, the same coach. They’re not going to change much.”
If you prepare 100%, if you give your all, there’s no room for stress or things like that. I don’t even have time to think about it. We’ll give our all, if necessary, we’ll die for the club,” comments relayed by L’Equipe.
We certainly want to avoid the idea of a relatively easy match against the Parisians simply because they’ve had a unique preparation. Luis Castro might not be able to avoid the fact that Paris will be far from being at their best this season. But we can understand that; he wants players who are fully determined. The match will still be tough.
PSG still has a strong squad and displayed remarkable resources against Tottenham on Wednesday in the European Super Cup. Having a very similar squad provides benchmarks. And there is still, clearly, a strong collective desire.
Nantes was able to conduct a more traditional preseason, and that will be an asset to build on. But Luis Castro is only the beginning of a major reconstruction project, with a transfer window marked by significant departures and recruitment made up mostly of cheap gambles. They’ll have to fight, that’s for sure.
