Page 70 - Soccer360 Issue 107

EUROPEAN LEAGUES PREVIEW
DID YOU KNOW?
Dortmund have won one and lost one of their two previous European
Cup finals; in contrast, Madrid have featured in this contest 17 times and have lost only three, the last in 1981.
ABOVE:
Dortmund beat PSG in the semi-finals of the Champions League
FAR LEFT:
Mbappe has played his last Champions League tournament with PSG
LEFT:
Jamal Musiala of Bayern Munich during the UEFA Champions League, Semi- finals, 2nd leg football match against Real Madrid
‘AFTER LOSING TO BORUSSIA DORTMUND
IN THE SEMI- FINALS, CAN PARIS SAINT- GERMAIN CHALLENGE AFTER LOSING KYLIAN MBAPPE?
Blancos squad to join fellow superstars Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Junior, the defending champions look like the team to beat yet again and will be something to behold if coach Carlo Ancelotti finds a system that successfully accommodates the trio. As for Man City, they still possess the best all-round squad, which usually takes something special to beat.
The revamped format should give all the big clubs an even better chance of making it to the round of 16. Certainly, a knockout round in March without those two and the likes of Bayern Munich, Arsenal, Liverpool, and Inter would require a very strange series of events to occur. The prospects for a Kylian Mbappé-less PSG are more difficult to predict, however. Although the France captain was by no means the only top player in the PSG squad, there is a definite period of restructuring going on at the
68 SOCCER360