Preview: Paris Saint-Germain vs. Liverpool – prediction, team news, lineups

Preview: Paris Saint-Germain vs. Liverpool – prediction, team news, lineups

Seasoned Champions League winners meet the perennial also-rans in Wednesday’s last-16 first leg, as Paris Saint-Germain welcome Liverpool to their Parc des Princes base for a heavyweight encounter.

Arne Slot’s men more or less swept aside the competition to top the league phase table, while the Ligue 1 champions annihilated Brest 10-0 on aggregate during a playoff pummelling.

Match preview

The much-coveted European crown continued to elude PSG during the golden era of Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi and Neymar, since when the powers-that-be have moved away from signing the superstars of today to focus on nurturing the superstars of tomorrow with Luis Enrique’s guidance.

Les Parisiens’ new-look crop were at serious risk of an embarrassing early exit from Europe, but a three-game winning sequence – including a 4-2 comeback job over Manchester City – saved their league phase bacon before they squared up to familiar opposition in the playoff round.

Showing no mercy to European novices Brest, PSG followed up a 3-0 first-leg success with a 7-0 second-leg slaughter to make it five wins on the spin in Europe’s top tournament; not since the 1994-95 season have they won more successive Champions League matches.

The calibre of opponent will now kick up a notch for Enrique’s side, but preparations for Wednesday’s clash of the titans could hardly have gone better, as a comprehensive 4-1 Ligue 1 win over Lille extended their victorious streak to a terrific 10 matches across all competitions.

In fact, only one of the hosts’ last 20 matches across all competitions has not ended in triumph – a 1-1 home draw with Reims towards the end of January – and to the surprise of no-one, they are surging towards their customary top-flight crown as they sit 13 points clear at the Ligue 1 summit.

However, French top-flight titles have been bread and butter for the capital giants for some time, whereas the Champions League last-16 curse has often bedevilled PSG, who have been eliminated from the competition at this stage in five of the last eight seasons.

PSG could do worse than take a leaf out of Liverpool’s book when it comes to conquering the continent, and a dead-rubber defeat against PSV Eindhoven aside, the Reds swept aside their other continental foes with minimal difficulty during the league phase.

Seven wins from Slot’s first seven Champions League games in charge preceded that inconsequential 3-2 loss in the Netherlands on matchday eight, but the Reds still comfortably topped the league-phase rankings and remain in hot pursuit of a domestic and continental treble.

Like PSG, the Merseyside mammoths also hold a 13-point lead atop the Premier League rankings courtesy of back-to-back 2-0 wins over Manchester City and Newcastle United in their last two games, and the defence of their EFL Cup title will conclude on March 16 against an Anthony Gordon-less Newcastle United in the final.

The Reds may head into Wednesday’s first leg on a three-game losing run in Champions League knockout games, but every one of those defeats was to Real Madrid – one of their league-phase victims – and they are the only side yet to lose an away game in the English top flight this season.

The overall away picture is less pleasant for Liverpool, who only have three wins to show from their last nine road matches across all tournaments, and the Premier League leaders are also without victory in five straight away games versus French sides in Europe since taking down Marseille in September 2008.

That winless sequence includes a 2-1 reverse to PSG during the sides’ most recent meeting in November 2018, but Jurgen Klopp had overseen a 3-2 Anfield success a couple of months beforehand, and either Aston Villa or Club Brugge will be waiting with bated breath for the winner of this titanic tussle in the quarter-finals.

Paris Saint-Germain Champions League form:

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Paris Saint-Germain form (all competitions):

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Liverpool Champions League form:

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Liverpool form (all competitions):

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Team News

Having come through their thumping of Lille with no new injury concerns, PSG are blessed with a fully-fit squad for Wednesday’s first leg, where Enrique is blessed with the best kind of selection concerns all over the field.

A handful of alterations from the triumph over Les Dogues ought to see Vitinha, Willian Pacho and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia – a rumoured transfer target for Liverpool in January – come back into the XI, where captain Marquinhos is set for a milestone appearance.

The experienced centre-back could make his 100th Champions League start on Wednesday, becoming the first player to do so exclusively for a French club and just the fourth Brazilian after Roberto Carlos, Dani Alves and Thiago Silva.

Liverpool are not quite as fortunate on the injury front, but their three infirm players – Tyler Morton (shoulder), Conor Bradley (hamstring) and Joe Gomez (hamstring) – would have had minimal chances of starting on Wednesday anyway.

The same goes for suspended teenager Amara Nallo, sent off just four minutes into his Liverpool debut against PSV, and the irresistible force that is Mohamed Salah will be bidding to extend an all-time Champions League record.

Already on course for the greatest individual Premier League season ever, the 32-year-old has been involved in 20 goals from 30 UCL knockout matches, more than any other African player; Samuel Eto’o and Didier Drogba both managed 19.

Paris Saint-Germain possible starting lineup:

Donnarumma; Hakimi, Marquinhos, Pacho, Mendes; Ruiz, Vitinha, Neves; Kvaratskhelia, Dembele, Barcola

Liverpool possible starting lineup:

Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson; Gravenberch, Mac Allister; Salah, Szoboszlai, Gakpo; Diaz