UEFA Champions League returns this week, with French giants Paris-Saint Germain hosting Spanish giants Real Madrid in the first leg of their 1/8final fixture.
Venue: Parc des Princes
Key Statistics
Paris Saint-Germain have scored 2+ goals in seven of their last ten games in all competitions.
Lionel Messi will play rivals Madrid for the 46th time if he starts on Wednesday.
The Parisians have not conceded inside 90 minutes in their last five home games in all competitions.
Real Madrid have won all their three away games in this edition of the UEFA Champions League so far and have kept clean sheets in all these matches.
Karim Benzema has scored in his last four Champions League matches. He could become only the third player in the competition’s history to score in five consecutive games.
The visitors have won just one of their last five games inside 90 minutes (D3, L1).
Head to head
Real Madrid have a slight edge over PSG and have won four out of 10 matches played between the two teams, as opposed to PSG’s three victories.
Latest performances in all competitions
PSG: W-W-L-W-W
Real Madrid: D-W-L-D-W
PSG
Paris Saint-Germain will look to take a step closer to winning their first Champions League trophy when they host Real Madrid on Tuesday.
The hosts come into this tie on the back of a 1-0 win over Rennes in the French top-flight. The win opened a 13-point lead at the top of the Ligue 1 table and will afford Mauricio Pochettino’s men the opportunity to focus all their resources on what has been an elusive Champions League trophy.
The Parisians have won four of their last five games but have also shown signs of inconsistency this season. However, to their credit, they have been consistent at home. Since their UCL semi-final defeat at home to Manchester City in April last year, Mauricio Pochettino’s side have lost just one competitive home match (W16, D1) – and that was via a penalty shootout.
They will fancy their chances of getting a good result against one of Europe’s most formidable opponents.
Possible PSG starting line-up
Gianluigi Donnarumma; Achraf Hakimi, Marquinhos, Presnel Kimpembe, Nuno Mendes; Marco Verratti, Idrissa Gueye, Gini Wijnaldum; Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Angel di Maria.
Injured: Ander Herrera, Sergio Ramos, Edouard Michut, Alexandre Letellier
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Real Madrid
After a disappointing La Liga outing over the weekend, Real Madrid will look to get back to winning ways when they travel to Paris to play PSG in the Champions League.
On Saturday, the record UCL holders were held to a goalless draw with Villareal, reducing their lead at the top of the La Liga table to four points.
The result means that they have won just one of their last four competitive outings ahead of this meeting. Their recent record is in sharp contrast to their form earlier in the season when they finished the UCL group stage with four consecutive victories while conceding just once.
They will be desperate to get a win in this game and keep their hopes of a record 15th UCL European title alive. Given that they have lost just one of their last 11 away matches at this stage (W8, D2), they will go into this tie confident of getting a good result.
Possible Real Madrid starting line-up
Courtois; Dani Carvajal, Eder Militao, Davi Alaba, Ferland Mendy; Luka Modric, Casemiro, Toni Kroos; Marco Asensio, Karim Benzema, Rodrygo..
Injured: None
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Prediction
PSG 2-1 Real Madrid
