Manchester United were handed a return to Paris Saint-Germain‘s Parc des Princes in Thursday evening’s Champions League group stage draw.
The Red Devils were in pot two for the draw, which didn’t really matter, as the top three pots were all filled with viable competition.
Manchester United Face Tough Return to Champions League
Paris Saint-Germain Out for Revenge as United Dealt Tough Draw
Having been away from Europe’s elite competition for another year, United fans will have been looking forward to the draw on Thursday evening. Afterward, though, questions will have been asked as to whether they are good enough to get out of their tricky group.
Manchester United are no strangers to Paris Saint-Germain after their meetings in 2019, despite having never met the French giants beforehand.
Paris Saint-Germain won 2-0 on their first trip to Old Trafford, it was vastly assumed that was the tie done. How little the footballing world knew United actually had it in them to turn it around. They did so in sensational fashion, true to United’s prestige. Diogo Dalot‘s speculative effort hit the hand of Presnel Kimpembe, and United were given a late penalty. Put away by Marcus Rashford, of course.
Just this evening, Rashford reached out to give now-Inter Milan forward Romelu Lukaku credit for that night.
Rom steps up picks up the ball and hands it to me.
He knew this was my moment.
He knew it would be me that got all news coverage for scoring that penalty and he was ok with that, ignoring the fact that he was the most instrumental part of that win.
— Marcus Rashford (@MarcusRashford) October 1, 2020
It was an eventful last-16 tie and the two sides will once again do battle.
Brazilian forward Neymar had watched the dramatic proceedings in Paris during March 2019 from the stands and will no doubt be determined to put that night right and guide his team to victory over United in the coming months.
Ander Herrera will face Manchester United for the first time since he left the club in the summer of 2019.
New Opponent
Last year’s semi-finalists RB Leipzig joined the runners-up of 2019/20, who knocked them out in Portugal and Manchester United in Group H.
Manchester United have never met the young German side, who have a host of attacking talent at Julian Nagelsmann’s disposal.
This will make for another interesting test for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men. Some at Old Trafford may have wanted this level of competition, though first and foremost getting out of the group and avoiding the embarrassment of dropping back into the Europa League should be most-desired.
Rafael Reunion
Another side United have never met, Istanbul Basaksehir, make up the group. Rafael da Silva recently joined the Turkish side and will be a familiar face come matchday.
Back to where everything start dreams come true ❤️❤️ @ManUtd
— Rafael da Silva (@orafa2) October 1, 2020
They almost collided in the Europa League last season, but for Copenhagen’s second-leg victory in their Round of 16 tie. United then comfortably dispatched of the Danish side.
This is a tough draw for United, but it’s not impossible that they qualify. They have the quality to go toe-to-toe with RB Leipzig, for example. Winning in Paris again may be a big ask. But as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer famously once said, “Mountains are there to be climbed.”
Main Photo
Embed from Getty Images
