Two dominant sides from their respective nations, Paris Saint Germain and Manchester City meet at Parc Des Princes expecting a cracker of a fixture. The Group A clash is a reversal of the semifinal played in the Champions League last season. Indeed, both of these clubs are competition favorites this time around too.
Match Details :
When: Tuesday, 28th September/ Wednesday, 29th September
Timings: 21:00 (local)/ 00:30 (IST)
Where: Parc Des Princes, Paris
PSG vs MCI Match Preview :
Paris Saint Germain have their onus to cheer for in this new season. The money-laden club made a catalog of impressive signing in the summer including Lionel Messi and while everyone is yet to click on their expected gear, except Hakimi, the Ligue 1 giants are flying in their league with eight wins out of eight placed on top of the chart. They stumbled in their opening group game against Belgian side Club Brugge drawing 1-1 even though the exciting front trio of Neymar, Mbappe and Messi started. The latter missed out on the wins over Metz and Montpellier but is expected to feature in this fixture being the major attraction of viewers around the globe. Pochettino will be expecting revenge from his boys to alter the dismal record PSG have against City at the venue by winning this game and seek early command in the group. After all, they are heavily tipped to win the contest altogether this campaign.
Pep Guardiola finally got one over his compatriot, Thomas Tuchel after failing to beat his side Chelsea in every clash last season. Most notable being the Champions League final earlier this year. Manchester City went into the fixture at Stamford Bridge slightly being the underdog but perfectly containing the Blues in a comfortable 1-0 success. The Premier League champions pressing game left to be a hard one for the European kings to deal with. On the back of that outstanding win, PSG comes calling as affairs on the continental stage heat up. City travel to Paris knowing that they are unbeaten at the venue and had suppressed the opposition last time out. Moreover, their opening day of the season loss to Tottenham is long forgotten with City winning six out of seven preceding games including an exciting 6-3 matchday 1 win over RB Leipzig. They have kept 5 clean sheets in that period and scored 24 goals.
Recent Form (all competitions) :
PSG: WWWDW
MCI: WWDWW
PSG vs MCI Team News :
PSG has a mega boost before facing the English champions at their backyard. Manager Mauricio Pochettino confirms in his pre-match conference that Lionel Messi and Marco Verratti are both fit to play in the clash in midweek following a late recovery from their respective injuries. However, there is no guarantee of either of them starting. German winger Julian Draxler is likely to begin the match after scoring in the weekend via a substitute appearance. The other big news comes in the form of Gigi Donnarumma. The former Milan keeper is expected to start over Keylor Navas against City that is according to Di Marzio which means he will be the first-choice goalkeeper for the Champions League games. Angel Di Maria is out for this clash as the Argentinian serves his two-match ban whereas Idrissa Gueye is back from suspension. Layvin Kurzawa, Colin Dagba and Juan Bernat have all returned to training but Sergio Ramos is still out with his injury.
Manchester City has struggled with injuries at the beginning of the new season but has eased the returnees back to the fold. After welcoming Phil Foden and Kevin De Bruyne, Pep confirmed on Monday that John Stones is progressing well, training normally and will receive minutes soon in this season. The center-back was available at the weekend and maybe offered some game time in midweek. Aymeric Laporte recovered from his injury to feature against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and will once again partner with Ruben Dias in the backline for this pivotal clash. Only unfortunate omission is Ilkay Gundogan as the midfielder is ruled out till the international break in October.
PSG vs MCI Predicted Lineups :
PSG: Gianluigi Donnarumma; Achraf Hakimi, Marquinhos, Presnel Kimpembe, Abou Diallo, Idrissa Gueye, Leonardo Paredes, Ander Herrera, Julian Draxler, Kylian Mbappe, Neymar
Man City: Ederson; Kyle Walker, Ruben Dias, Aymeric Laporte, Joao Cancelo; Bernardo Silva, Rodri, De Bruyne, Riyad Mahrez, Ferran Torres, Jack Grealish
Head to Head :
Manchester City spearheads this meeting between the sides in this competition with PSG failing to win in the total of four games so far. The Cityzens triumphed in the 2016 quarterfinals and 2021 semifinals of two legs, winning two and drawing the others. In the previous clash at Parc Des Princes, City came out 2-1 winners after trailing in halftime through De Bruyne and an outstanding freekick from Riyad Mahrez. They went on to win the reverse fixture 2-0 to confirm their place in the final.
GK: Ederson (MCI)
DEF: Hakimi (PSG), Marquinhos (PSG), Dias (MCI), Cancelo (MCI)
MID: Grealish (MCI), B. Silva (MCI), Herrera (PSG), Neymar (PSG)
FW: Gabriel Jesus (MCI), Mbappe (PSG)
Prediction: Paris Saint Germain 1-2 Manchester City
It will be a nervy outing as both sides try to stamp the authority early in the group in outgoing the other. A win will be crucial and it is expected Manchester City will fulfill that task once again at a venue they have been largely successful.
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