Lionel Messi could face Barcelona in the Champions League next season

Lionel Messi won his first-ever league title away from Barcelona as Paris Saint-Germain lifted the Ligue 1 crown on Saturday night, following their 1-1 draw against RC Lens.

The 34-year-old Argentine was on target as he scored a stunning goal to put PSG in front. And even though RC Lens would go on to equalise late in the game, a draw was enough for Les Parisiens to lift their record-equalling tenth league crown.

PSG’s title triumph means they will now be placed in the Pot 1 of the UEFA Champions League draw for next season. And, with Barcelona set to be in Pot 2, it opens up the possibility of the two teams getting drawn in the same group.

There has always been an air of scepticism surrounding the Champions League draw. The European football’s governing body has always maintained that the draws are carried out in a fair manner, but some match-ups cast some suspicion over the procedure.

For example, this season we saw Manchester United being drawn against Villarreal in a rematch of the UEFA Europa League finals from the 2020/21 season before the entire process had to be repeated over a mistake.

Then there was also the draw of Real Madrid against PSG in the Round of 16 this season again, right after ex-Madrid captain Sergio Ramos and former Barça superstar Messi had made the move to Paris.

There have been many such instances in the past. The pairing of Liverpool with Manchester City for the 2017/18 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals gave way to a lot of suspicions.

In the same season, the semi-final draws also raised a lot of questions as AS Roma had made tickets available for Liverpool fans even before the draw had taken place, while the results of the process had also been shown on the UEFA website well before the live stream of the draw.

So, fans do not be surprised if when the draw takes place for the group stages later this year, Messi’s PSG gets pitted against his former club Barcelona to grab more eyeballs.