PSG: How They Match Up in Their Champions League Draw

Paris Saint-Germain has spent the past year and a half building the foundation for what they hope will be a contender on the European stage. With their qualification into this season's Champions League, expectations have been high considering their personnel additions.

With the draw for the group stage complete, PSG now know who they must overcome to advance to the next stage. The question is, how do they match up with the rest of the Group A?

Porto

PSG struck gold when they were drawn with Porto. Not that Porto is a poor club, but the Portuguese squad was widely viewed as the weakest of the Pot 1 teams in the draw.

Drawing Porto out of Pot 1 meant PSG were able to avoid Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and the other top teams in the group stage. Porto presents a favorable matchup for PSG, especially after star striker Hulk transferred to Zenit at the end of the transfer season.

Porto still feature several talented players led by midfielder Joao Moutinho, but on paper, PSG is deeper and has more star power.

Dynamo Kyiv

PSG's group member from Pot 2 is Dynamo Kyiv. Once again, fortune smiled on PSG, as Manchester City was avoided in the group stage.

Andriy Shevchenko no longer roams the pitch for the Ukraine club. His retirement is a huge blow for the squad, as he was still a force to deal with. Kyiv will have to work hard to create goals without the striker.

Kyiv should provide a stiff physical test for PSG, and traveling to Kyiv is never a treat for opposing squads. With that in mind, PSG still should find themselves favored when matched up with Dynamo.

Dinamo Zagreb

The relative unknown of the group is Dinamo Zagreb. They have participated in several Champions League competitions over the last decade, but had to qualify through the play in to get themselves into Pot 4 for the draw.

Like Kyiv, they will bring a physical style to the pitch. PSG will have to use their quick passing and movement to negate the physical advantage Zagreb should have.

Once again, PSG should find themselves the favorite when facing the Croatian squad.

Prediction

While nothing is easy when it comes to the Champions League, PSG fans should be excited about the draw.

PSG has favorable matchups and should qualify for the next stage. They should be the class of the group, and finishing at the top can help them with a better matchup in the next round.

Failure to move on from the group stage will be viewed as a failure by fans and ownership alike.

Prediction

      Team                                 W             L              D             Points

1. PSG                                      4             0               2               14

2. Dynamo Kyiv                         2            1               3                9

3. Porto                                      1            2               3                6

4. Dinamo Zagreb                      0            4               2                2