Eleven months on from their last visit to Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge, Paris Saint-Germain return to London today looking for confirmation of their place among the UEFA Champions League elite.
In last season’s quarter-finals, PSG traveled to London with a 3-1 lead from the first leg and with a huge 13-point advantage at the top of Ligue 1, only to crash out after Demba Ba’s 87th-minute strike took Chelsea through on away goals.
This season, a round earlier, the tie is even more evenly balanced at 1-1 and it is Chelsea who are dominating domestically, five points clear in the English Premier League with a game in hand, while in France, PSG trail Olympique Lyonnais by a point.
Photo: AFP
However, in contrast to last season’s trip to London, PSG have Zlatan Ibrahimovic fit and in form, with the giant Swede having scored his third goal in four games and provided a delightful assist for Javier Pastore in Saturday’s 4-1 defeat of Racing Club de Lens.
Laurent Blanc’s side have now gone 14 games without defeat in all competitions and despite their failure to recapture last season’s heights they remain in contention for an unprecedented four-trophy haul.
“Of course we have belief against Chelsea,” Blanc said. “We’re in an unfavorable situation because they scored that famous goal [Ba’s goal], which meant Paris didn’t reach the semi-finals for the second year in a row, but we have to do the same thing as them. If we’re as clinical as Chelsea were, I’ll take it.”
Photo: EPA
With PSG’s owners, Qatar Sports Investments, having taken over at the Parc de Princes eight years after Roman Abramovich first took his rubles to Stamford Bridge, the French champions have had to face the barrier of Financial Fair Play (FFP), which Chelsea did not have to worry about when Jose Mourinho was building the first great team of the Abramovich era.
The FFP sanctions that PSG were hit with last year restricted their close-season transfer activity, but they were nonetheless able to splash out an astonishing 50 million euros (US$54.5 million) to sign David Luiz from Chelsea.
The Brazil centerback aimed a tongue-in-cheek barb at Mourinho earlier this week, responding to a question about what made the “Special One” so special by saying: “But he’s special for you, not for me.”
Luiz deputized in defensive midfield for the first leg, but with Thiago Motta fit again after a calf injury, he is expected to return to central defense alongside Thiago Silva, who was rested against Lens.
In Lucas Moura’s absence, Pastore has been tipped to get the nod to line up alongside Ibrahimovic and Edinson Cavani — who canceled out Branislav Ivanovic’s opener in the first leg — in Blanc’s three-pronged attack.
Only John Obi Mikel is definitely out for Chelsea, with Nemanja Matic expected to return after a two-match domestic suspension, despite hurting his ankle during the celebrations that followed the 2-0 League Cup final victory over Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley.
Chelsea have had more than a week to prepare for the game, having not played at the weekend, and centerback Gary Cahill said they have left no stone unturned.
“We’ve been able to really work on specific things in preparation for it,” the England defender, whose side hope to reach the last eight for the fourth time in five years, told the Chelsea Web site. “We know the quality of PSG and the job that lies ahead of us. It’s going to be like a final, a big one-off game, and we’ll be ready to go out there and give it everything we have to get us into the next round.”
The first leg was overshadowed after mobile phone footage emerged showing a group of Chelsea supporters preventing a black Frenchman from boarding a Paris Metro train prior to the game and chanting racist songs.
Chelsea reacted by banning five fans from Stamford Bridge and inviting the victim, known as Souleymane S, to attend the second leg, but he is believed to have declined the invitation.
A runner who stopped during a marathon in China to pose doing the splits and another who hoarded energy gels have been banned for two years, the local athletics association said yesterday. The incidents happened during Sunday’s marathon in Sichuan Province’s Chengdu and were widely shared online. Videos showed a female runner stopping suddenly and dropping to the ground in the splits position, holding up her arms in a heart shape as she apparently posed for a photograph. She “committed obstructive fouls during the race, affecting the safe participation of other runners,” the Sichuan Athletics Association said in a statement, which identified
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli yesterday vowed to “keep raising the bar” after winning the Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the championship standings. The 19-year-old Italian took advantage of a mid-race safety car to jump into the lead after a dreadful start from pole position, crossing the line ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Antonelli’s Suzuka victory came two weeks after the first grand prix win of his career in China, and sent him top of the championship standings after three races, nine points ahead of team-mate George Russell. Mercedes are struggling to
Yu Yao-hsing on Tuesday nabbed Taiwan’s only goal in the final round of qualifiers for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, as they fell 3-1 to Sri Lanka at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Early goals from Sri Lanka in the first half left Taiwan struggling to get on the board, and Christopher Tiao’s own goal at 53 minutes sealed the team’s fate in the third round of qualifiers. While acknowledging that the defeat, Taiwan’s sixth in Group D, was disappointing, head coach Matt Ross said he saw reasons to stay positive about the team’s development. “There were lots of positive signs in terms of the
Teng Kai-wei, the only Taiwanese player on an opening-day roster in this year’s Major League Baseball (MLB) season, took his first win of the year with the Houston Astros in his season debut. Teng entered in relief in the top of the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday, with the Astros trailing 5-0. He pitched 2-1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, as Houston scored 11 runs during his outing to snatch an 11-9 comeback victory. The win is the Astros’ first of the season and the third of Teng’s MLB career. “It’s my first time pitching for the Astros, so
RSS