PSG’s Potential Champions League Last 16 Opponents

Paris Saint-Germain’s path to the Champions League round of 16 remains open, but only after a dramatic escape in Monaco. Trailing 2-0 inside 25 minutes, down a missed penalty and with Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembélé limping off, the holders looked on the brink of genuine jeopardy. Enter 20-year-old Désiré Doué, the summer’s marquee acquisition who had flickered rather than blazed through the first months of 2025-26. Two goals and a key pass on Achraf Hakimi’s equaliser later, PSG return to the capital with a slender advantage in a playoff tie that now feels like a formality.

Should Luis Enrique’s side finish the job at the Parc des Princes, they will move directly into a last-16 collision with either Barcelona or Chelsea—two opponents who have shaped the club’s modern European narrative in wildly different ways.

Barcelona first. The Catalans remain etched in PSG folklore for the wrong reasons: the 2017 Remontada, when a 4-0 first-leg lead evaporated in a 6-1 Camp Nou nightmare. Since that trauma, however, Paris have wrestled back control, winning both subsequent knockout ties with something to spare and opening the current campaign with a 2-1 comeback victory over Hansi Flick’s La Liga champions. With Neymar’s record-shattering 2017 transfer still hovering over every meeting, the rivalry carries emotional heft as well as tactical intrigue.

Chelsea, by contrast, have tormented PSG in bursts. Three consecutive round-of-16 showdowns in the mid-2010s left scars, and last summer’s 3-0 demolition in the FIFA Club World Cup final underlined the Blues’ enduring pedigree on the global stage. Cole Palmer’s masterclass and Enzo Maresca’s tactical stranglehold that night in New York served notice that west London pedigree runs deeper than form tables. New manager Liam Rosenior has steadied the ship since December, steering Chelsea past Pafos and Napoli to secure knockout football. History whispers encouragement: both of the club’s Champions League triumphs arrived after mid-season dugout changes.

For Enrique, the equation is stark—overcome Monaco at home, then prepare for a collision heavy with storylines, pressure and the weight of recent history. For Barcelona or Chelsea, the prospect of facing the competition’s holders offers both danger and opportunity. No soft landing awaits in the last 16.