Finalists last year, PSG players return to the Champions League on Tuesday evening.
They receive Manchester United, who had inflicted severe humiliation on them by eliminating them in the round of 16 in the spring of 2018. The capital club will be keen to wash away the affront and show that it has changed dimension.
A year and a half later, the scar is still open.
In the spring of 2018, PSG sank in the round of 16 second leg of the Champions League (1-3) against a Manchester United, however largely takable.
Tuesday evening, the Parisians meet the Red Devils for the first match of the group stage of the 2020-2021 edition of the most prestigious European Cup.
With the desire to show that their place as finalist last year was not due to chance.
But also with the desire to wash away the affront.
"It's not a good memory for us, but a lot has changed"
Because Paris Saint-Germain remembers as if it were yesterday this famous March 6, 2019. A disputed penalty at the very end of the game caused by Kimpembe, a 3-1 defeat against Manchester United and a new humiliation on the European scene.
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But since then, Paris has rebounded well.
"It is not a good memory for us, but a lot of things have changed", notes the coach of the PSG, the German Thomas Tuchel.
"We had an amazing season in the Champions League last year, it gave us a lot of confidence. Now the challenge is to win first."
Neymar and Mbappé expected
Despite the absence of midfielder Verratti, striker Icardi or even the Spaniard Bernat, Paris will start its Champions League with its two jewels, Neymar and Kylian Mbappé.
Injured in 2019, the Brazilian star had lived the fiasco against United from the edge of the lawn.
As for the French prodigy, he had simply missed his match.
The two know what is expected of them: to take revenge on the English, send a message to football Europe, and prove that last summer's course was anything but a miracle.