PSG keep their Champions League draw frustration internal

The botched Champions League draw on Monday caused public anger at Real Madrid, but their opponents Paris Saint-Germain have been quieter about their frustrations. While Real Madrid had originally been drawn against Benfica, PSG had previously had a slightly easier looking tie against Manchester United.

Now, the Ligue 1 side will have to overcome Real Madrid and they didn't want that at all.

While it's true that Real Madrid had a stronger reason to complain, since their pairing with Benfica took place before the irregularities with the first draw, which wasn't the case with PSG vs Manchester United, the silence from the Parc des Princes has been noticeable.

The French media aren't happy with the draw and have even criticised the capital city club for their silence. The press claim that PSG aren't criticising UEFA because of their closeness right now with the continent's governing body.

PSG, along with Bayern Munich, united with Aleksander Ceferin to voice the strongest opposition to the Super League plans at the time. They don't, therefore, want to openly criticise UEFA at this time.

That doesn't mean there isn't frustration about what happened on Monday. It's just that's it's internal in their case.

With Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi and Neymar together, probably only for one season, PSG view 2021/22 as a great opportunity to win their first European Cup. Even though they came second in their group behind Manchester City, they hoped for an easier draw than this one.

But, now they'll have to overcome a very high hurdle at the first stage of the knockouts. Going out at the last 16 would bring a lot of pressure on Mauricio Pochettino, Leonardo and Nasser Al-Khelaifi himself. Against Real Madrid, that is certainly a possibility and that's why there is frustration about Monday's mess in Paris too.