PSG welcome Man City in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final this week and this is going to be one of the most anticipated matches from the current matchweek.
Both teams are laden with talents who can single-handedly change the course of a match and to make things more interesting, both these sides play a very similar brand of football.
PSG go into this game as the slight underdogs primarily because Man City have been in such fine form and speaking ahead of the first leg, Mauricio Pochettino has made it clear that City have a series of players who can inflict serious damage to his side.
Pochettino said, as quoted by MEN: “He’s a fantastic player. We know him very well from England, he’s a player we need to control. We have ideas but he’s an enormous challenge.
“Like Mahrez, De Bruyne, Sterling, Aguero, Jesus. It’s the best team in the world, winning the Premier League, Carabao Cup. They have great players and a great coaching staff. He’s difficult to compare with Mbappe because they’re two different players but he will be a big challenge.
“Both sides have unbelievable players to control for 90 minutes. In our side is the same. It will be tough, very competitive.
“City is doing a fantastic journey this season and the previous seasons with Pep. It’s going to be a tough game, hoping that we can do a good performance and win. That is the objective as always in football.
“We know very well we are going to face a very good City team who are working so hard to be in the place today. They have great players, the club is doing a fantastic job. It’s football, we are confident, respect our opponents. For sure it will be a completely different tie than Barcelona or Bayern.”
Pochettino knows that it will not be a walk in the park on Wednesday but if somehow his team can stop Man City from picking up that crucial away goal then they will go into the second leg with a lot of confidence.
PSG go into this key match having won four of their previous five league matches but winning games in the Ligue 1 holds absolutely no significance against a Champions League game, that too vs Manchester City.
The only thing that could work against Guardiola is that he had named a really strong side in the EFL Cup final on Sunday so fatigue could be an issue towards the end of the PSG game.
