PSG gets tough slate of Champions League opponents. Real Madrid going to Liverpool and Almaty

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00:00right to sport and for that we welcome joining us from afar Ruben Slachter from Eurosport who's

00:05wearing a very natty jersey which I suspect there's nothing to do with the Champions League

00:09I'm guessing that might be São Paulo of Brazil yeah okay completely correct so I hope I've got

00:15a point for that one Ruben always great to see you that smile a very winning smile we're talking

00:20Champions League of course Paris Saint-Germain reigning champions there's been an announcement

00:24of who's got whom in the early rounds and of course Paris Saint-Germain have a certain

00:29side of the draw which could be tough could be tricky on the other side of the draw I think more

00:34teams have more to lose Ruben what's your assessment of how Paris Saint-Germain has fared in this one

00:40and how they may do going forward well there are two things first thing is yeah it's a hard draw for

00:47Paris Saint-Germain they had the same hard draw last year when they had a lot of tough teams it's not

00:53about the first pot because in the first pot you have a lot of strong teams it would always have

00:57been difficult for for them but it's more about the teams you play in the fourth pot for example

01:02where Paris Saint-Germain has to play against Bilbao and Newcastle so yeah that was not that was not

01:08very lucky for them having said that last year it was the same situation they also didn't manage to

01:15be in the first eight which is a huge advantage in the in the new in the new Champions League

01:20um but they didn't do it they still managed to win the whole thing so yeah what what can we say

01:26about it the only thing is that it will be eight nice challenges for them they are the title holders

01:31so yeah everybody they have the they have the they have everybody are hunting them so that will be

01:36will be interesting to see how they will manage that indeed they will be the team to beat and that's

01:41going to add the pressure to Luis Enrique and the players isn't it yeah 100% I mean it's not often that

01:48you have a team uh winning it twice in a row uh we now have uh I mean I think that this Paris Saint-Germain

01:54team still has all what it takes to win it twice in a row but you have to see how they will if the team

02:01will still have the same dynamics uh if if the club is also managing it well we the only club in in recent

02:09history that was able to do it was Real Madrid where there's a complete culture of winning all the

02:14time uh it did PSG make that new step towards it that will be very interesting to follow there are

02:20three French clubs at this stage Paris Saint-Germain we've spoken about Marseille Monaco um are they

02:28going to be also rounds or do you feel they can make an impact well I mean the the whole the whole

02:34system is now that the first eight will qualify directly for the for the third round let's say that

02:38way and then you have 16 teams that will play an extra round and I think that a lot of teams and

02:45Monaco and and Marseille are amongst those teams are aiming for that for that round and it's not

02:52impossible I would say that Marseille is not very lucky with the games they have uh again what we said

02:59before Newcastle play getting them from from the final pot that's not that's not lucky to play against

03:04uh against uh against uh against sporting is also not not very lucky but okay uh why not uh Monaco

03:11it's a bit the same thing I think that there's a lot a lot of teams who will aim for it we've seen

03:15last year with a club like Brest for example they also managed to go into the second round so yeah

03:19it's it's clearly not impossible yeah I'm just thinking a Wednesday night away at Newcastle United

03:24might be a tricky one for some of the uh players who are perhaps more accustomed to uh a warmer climate

03:30should we say and a better kind of treatment because it is a rough place to go and play football

03:33the fans are very very very passionate uh two of my best friends uh imagine going imagine going to

03:39imagine going to Almaty in in November I was going to say you read my mind there you read my mind

03:45completely um who if not Paris Saint-Germain then who's going to win it and clearly one could talk

03:50about Real Madrid Manchester City some people are saying Manchester City are up for it but I think

03:55perhaps if you look at City's form and the way that things aren't working there right now do you

04:00think we can discount Manchester City this time around you can never discount them but the thing

04:05is that and that was will make this addition very interesting is it is wide open there's so many

04:10teams that will think that they have a chance and that that will will make it interesting I think at

04:16Barcelona if you look purely to the qualities let's see if they made a step from last year when

04:20they were eliminated by Inter by yeah well in a very strange fashion so yeah I think that they will aim

04:26for it as well you can talk about Real Madrid you have of course the English teams Liverpool will be

04:31will be very hungry for it uh Arsenal as well seems to have made a new step again so yeah I think I

04:38think the interesting thing about this whole cup this year is that there's so many different um

04:43different candidates to win it which makes it a wide open competition which is always always fun

04:49to follow Ruben would you allow me to change competitions and talk about the Carabao Cup that's

04:54the league cup in England and the result last night Grimsby Town of the lower divisions let's put it

05:02that way knocking out the mighty Manchester United imagine that you must have been shocked by that

05:09yeah it's incredible how romantic is football that that's the football we all love right Mark we hope

05:17for these results so it's incredible that uh that a club like like Grimsby can can be the mighty

05:22Manchester United having said that the mighty Manchester United is a is a few years behind us I think but

05:28still it's an incredible it's an incredible result and it's an incredible uh it's an incredible

05:34pull victory for for for Grimsby the scenes after the final penalty were just incredible

05:39a classic pitch invasion which we all love so yeah these are the these are the scenes we're hoping for

05:45and let's hope that we'll have a lot more this season in in in all those competitions Ruben thank you

05:50very much it was a pleasure to talk to Ruben Slechter there of Eurosport with analysis of the

05:54Champions League and that context on Grimsby Town beating Manchester United in the Carabao Cup

05:58Ruben thank you sir very much indeed hope to see you in a match one day great man thank you all

06:03the best to you Grimsby squad worth three million pounds the guys who scored the two goals for United

06:09last night their total value would be 150 million that gives you the gulf between the two clubs but

06:15when it's 11 versus 11 things happen and sometimes the magic shines well done to Grimsby but of course

06:21United will be back

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