Michael Owen believes Lionel Messi only weakens Paris Saint-Germain

Former Liverpool striker Michael Owen said that Lionel Messi made Paris Saint-Germain weaker following the team's opening day draw away at Club Brugge.

Despite being armed with Messi, Kylian Mbappe, and Neymar for the first time on Wednesday night, PSG could not win the match and conceded a 1-1 draw instead.

"As much as we drool over them, this PSG team with those forwards, they're all phenomenal players in their own right," Owen said.

"But three together makes it weaker for me and I don't really understand why they're one of the favourites for it [the Champions League]. I think the English teams [Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, and Manchester United] are far, far superior.

"I almost feel as though the signing of the likes of [Gianluigi] Donnarumma and Sergio Ramos gives them more of a chance of winning it than the signing of someone like Messi."

Rio Ferdinand was on pundit duty with Owen and quickly voiced his disagreement.

Ferdinand replied: "I don't know if you get it right behind them, if you get the right mix with [Marco] Verratti, [Idrissa] Gueye, [Gini] Wijnaldum, you've got legs.

"You've got people who can transfer the ball through the pitch to the great players at the top who can cause the damage. Yes, you need to get a bit of work from them at times coming back, but I've seen Neymar do it. Mbappe is young enough to be able to do it, he has to.

"I think that's [Mauricio] Pochettino's remit, demand it from these players. That sets apart the good managers from the greats. Can you get these guys who people assume don't want to work, working?"

The match was Messi's 150th Champions League appearance.