PSG’s Jackie Groenen says former club Manchester United ‘always felt like a second home’ ahead of the two sides’ upcoming UWCL meeting.
Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) disappointingly went out in the qualifying rounds of the UEFA Women’s Champions League (UWCL) against Juventus last season. When The Halfway Line asks Groenen how she prepares for this new campaign, with last year in mind, Groenen says she is excited to be back.
“We obviously missed out on the boat a little bit last season. I didn’t even get to play a game because I missed the first qualifying games and we didn’t qualify further. So it was a year without a lot of Champions League games. So we’re very excited to be back in the mix. We are very excited to play so many big teams,” Groenen says.
‘There’s no easy draw’ in the UWCL urges Groenen
The UWCL has moved from a group stage format to a league phase format, starting this season. Groenen acknowledges that the new format has changed things up a bit for the teams. “I think everyone has a tough draw now in the Champions League. There’s no easy draw, but we’re really excited to be playing against some very big opponents home and away. I really enjoyed the format with the men’s last season, so I’m very excited that it’s come to us now as well,” she explains.
The key to performing well in the Champions League, according to Groenen, is to look at it game by game. “For each game, I think we have some very different opponents, very different styles of play,” she details. “It’s about not looking too far ahead, just really working from day to day and I think that’s something that we’ve been working on this year to have the patience to see what we can build and the patience to see how far this team can get.”
PSG has had a number of new players coming into their squad, among them Spain’s World Cup winner Olga Carmona, coming in from Real Madrid. When The Halfway Line asks her about the players coming in, Groenen is quick to mention her.
The midfielder’s explanation is enthusiastic: “We have so many really good players. I’m very excited for Olga to come in, she’s been injured at the beginning of the season, but she’s coming in from this week on, we have some really good players that have come up that are 17, 18 years old too that are already so good.”
“But we have so many good signings. Rasheedat [Ajibade], who’s very fast on the wing, is giving us extra options in front. It feels like quite a new team. We’ve restructured a lot, so it needs some time, but that’s the patience that we have to have and it’s very exciting.”
Groenen’s uses her experience in this young, new team. She tells the press she tries to bring the balance in the team. “ When you play with a lot of young players around you who are very fast, very excited, very ready to play all the time, sometimes you just need to bring a bit of calm to the game, a bit of balance to what we do so we don’t just fly out and attack all the time. So I think that’s something that I’ve been trying to do, just almost like slow them down a little bit to get to play.”
Manchester United ‘a club very close to my heart’ says Groenen
Groenen spent between 2019 and 2022 playing for Manchester United. PSG will come up against the Red Devils at Old Trafford, and Groenen is not the only PSG face that has also played for the Women’s Super League (WSL) side — so has goalkeeper Mary Earps.
“I’m very excited to go back to Manchester. It’s always felt like a second home for me, so I’m very excited to play against a team that’s very close to my heart,” Groenen opens up.
PSG’s first UWCL fixture is set to take place against Wolfsburg. Groenen is no stranger to playing the She Wolves in green, having played at Frankfurt earlier in her career. “It’s always a battle against Wolfsburg. They are very physical, very direct towards the goal. So you have to be ready at every minute of the game,” she anticipates.
PSG face Wolfsburg on Wednesday, October 8 at 20:00 GMT. The Halfway Line will provide updates on all things UWCL.
