Al -Malab newspaper – I am an enemy of being the only team crowned with all the titles of the competitions he played this season, Paris Saint -Germain enters its opening match in the FIFA World Cup tomorrow, Sunday, facing Atletico Madrid with the aim of consolidating its historic season.
After winning the French Super Cup in January and then setting the league for the fourth season in succession six stages from the end of it, and then crowning the local cup title, Saint -Germain achieved the dream of his eternal Qatari administration and crowned the first Champions League titles after the Italian Inter -clean in the final match in Munich.
The Capital Club is seeking to complete its exceptional career by winning the first world title in its history, and devoting its dominance on the football scene this season.
The match will be in the second group between Saint -Germain and Atletico Madrid at the Rose Paul Stadium in Los Angeles, the first confrontation between two European teams in the competition with its new system, which includes 32 teams.
Saint -Germain is counting on a deadly offensive strength, which managed to score 152 goals in 58 games in various competitions this season, to be the French capital team, the second most scoring team among the five major leagues.
The young Dizirier Duaei is the most prominent players of the offensive line in the Paris squad, who has become the first player to contribute with three goals in a final match in the Champions League (he scored two goals and presented a decisive pass), raising his score to 15 goals in various competitions this season, achieving victory in all the matches in which he scored.
Saint -Germain will be without his star, striker Othman Dembele, who was injured with his country against France in the European Nations League, while Bradley Barcola is expected to be ready despite the injury he received with the team as well.
On the other hand, the Parisian team’s defense is not among the best in Europe, which has failed to keep its nets clean in 9 of its last 12 games.
“Big Hopes”
But Atletico Madrid hopes to repeat what he accomplished in the Champions League this season, when Saint-Germain beat the role of the unified group in the first official confrontation between the two clubs.
Although Saint -Germain and Atletico only met once, the first Argentine coach Diego Simeone danced the taste of defeat from his Spanish counterpart Luis Enrique 9 times, Italian Carlo Ancelotti coach and rivals Real Madrid won more matches against the Spanish team (11 times).
It is true that this will be the first participation of Atletico in the competition, but his Argentine striker Julian Alvarez had previously been created when he scored two goals and made two decisive passes with his former team Manchester City in the final match against the Brazilian Flamingo (4-0 in 2023).
Simeone saw that his team has “great hopes in reaching the round of 16 .. After that, we will see how things will go .. This tournament is completely different from the Champions League where the first -leg matches are played .. Here, only one match.”
In the event of qualification, Atletico can face the Italian Inter or the Argentine River Plate in subsequent roles if the last two qualified as well, two teams that Simeone wore their shirt.
“I hope we will play against them! I want to go far in the Club World Cup and take Atletico Madrid to the summit that we all aspire to, whether we face teams that played with it as a coach, as a player or any other opponent produced by the lot.”
Within the same group, Brazilian Potafogo meets with the American Seattle Soundarrs at the Lumin Field stadium in the first Brazilian-American confrontation in the competition.
Easy journey for Bayern
Bayern Munich, the defending champions twice (2013 and 2020), hopes to achieve a comfortable victory against the New Zealand Auckland City in the third group, where he meets the title “Bundesliga” with amateur players, but experienced in the competition.
This will be the 12th participation of Auckland in the World Cup clubs, but it often leaves early, and he lost the last five matches.
“We are among the candidates, of course … I think we have proven this season our fabric”, and continued, “on a good day, we can beat any team.”
Bayern’s journey will be easy in a group that also includes the Argentine Boca Juniors and Benfica.
In the first group, Palmes Brazilian plays with Portuguese Porto at the Mettlav Stadium in New York.
