A few weeks after getting their 2026–2027 campaign underway, Les Rouge et Bleue are now preparing to begin their latest UWCL league-phase adventure with a trip to the Estadio Alfredo Di Stéfano to face none other than Real Madrid.
As a reminder, the capital club's women had to negotiate a tie against Eintracht Frankfurt in the competition's third qualifying round in order to book their place in the league phase. After coming away from Germany with a 1–1 draw, Les Parisiennes delivered a true display of character in the second leg at PSG Campus by eventually earning a 5–1 victory after extra time, thanks to braces from both Merveille Kanjinga and Sakina Karchaoui.
Since then, their form has only got better. Having won their first three Arkema Première Ligue games without conceding a single goal (2–0 away to Lens, 2–0 at home to Strasbourg and 1–0 at home to Nantes), Paulo César's players remain unbeaten in 2026–2027 so far and will therefore be hoping to keep that run going in Europe's premier club competition.
Paris Saint-Germain will be up against a familiar foe tomorrow night, with these two teams due to face each other in the UWCL for the sixth time. To date, the head-to-head record has very much swayed in favour of Les Parisiennes, who have racked up three wins, one draw and just one loss in this fixture, as well as scoring nine goals and conceding just three.
On top of that, Las Blancas have never managed to beat Paris on home soil in the Champions League. In their previous two trips to the Estadio Alfredo Di Stéfano (in November 2021 and October 2022), Les Rouge et Bleue recorded a 2–0 win and a 0–0 draw respectively.
These happy memories will therefore provide some welcome encouragement to our women ahead of their return to the Spanish capital tomorrow. Although the most recent meeting between the two sides – which took place in October last year – ended in a 2–1 victory for Real at PSG Campus, this remains Paris's only defeat at the hands of Las Merengues in the UWCL.
This Matchday 1 encounter also promises to be a truly intense affair. Last season, Paris Saint-Germain boasted the highest tackle success rate of any team in the UEFA Women's Champions League (72.4%, i.e. 76 out of 105), while Real Madrid, despite having made more tackles, registered over 10% fewer successful ones. This statistic illustrates one of the biggest strengths of this Paris squad: its ability to hold its own in one-on-one duels and not to give an inch in the more physical moments of games.
The team's most recent outings have only strengthened this mindset, too. Against Nantes last Friday, Les Parisiennes were up against a solid defensive unit for the majority of the game before making the difference in the dying moments through the aforementioned Kanjinga. This was not only a dramatic victory for Paulo César's players but also their third straight clean sheet in the league.
Real, meanwhile, will be coming into this match with a similarly high level of confidence. On Saturday, Pau Quesada's side beat Valencia 3–1 on Matchday 4 of Liga F, having already got the better of both Atlético Madrid and Deportivo de A Coruña and earned a goalless draw with Eibar, while the Spaniards have also qualified for the UWCL league phase for the sixth season in a row.
For the second edition of this new-look UEFA Women's Champions League, 18 teams will play six league-phase matches, with the top four going directly through to the quarter-finals while the teams finishing between fifth and 12th will have to go through the knockout phase play-offs.
So, Les Parisiennes will be getting straight down to business tomorrow in what is one of the most eagerly anticipated clashes of this opening round of fixtures.
