Manchester United make a couple of changes to the side named for the 3-2 win over Southampton on Saturday. Alexis Sanchez is injured while Paul Pogba is suspended, so Eric Bailly and Fred come into the starting XI instead.
United appear to be going 3-5-2, with Bailly joining Victor Lindelof and Chris Smalling at the back, Ashley Young and Luke Shaw providing support from the flanks. It’s an inexperienced bench, featuring Mason Greenwood, James Garner, Tahith Chong and Angel Gomes … but then youth is what United are all about, so.
Paris Saint-Germain won 2-1 at Caen on Saturday thanks to a couple of Kylian Mbappe goals. Mbappe is one of only five players from that match who keep their place in the starting line-up. In come Gianluigi Buffon, captain Thiago Silva, Presnel Kimpembe, Marco Verratti, Juan Bernat and Julian Draxler. They take the places of the benched Alphonse Areola, Leandro Paredes, Thomas Meunier and Layvin Kurzawa, and Christopher Nkunku and Moussa Diaby, who miss out altogether.
A lot of changes, though that’s the same PSG side that started at Old Trafford. Edinson Cavani returns to the bench after injury.
The teams
Paris Saint-Germain: Buffon, Thiago Silva, Kimpembe, Kehrer, Marquinhos, Verratti, Mbappe, Di Maria, Dani Alves, Bernat, Draxler.
Manchester United: de Gea, Young, Lindelof, Bailly, Smalling, Shaw, Pereira, Fred, McTominay, Lukaku, Rashford.
Preamble
It’s fair to say Manchester United are up against it here. They’re 0-2 down after the home leg, and that’s a specific scoreline you simply don’t come back from in the European Cup: not once in the 63-year history of the tournament has a team extricated themselves after losing 0-2 at home. A total of 106 teams have tried it; a total of 106 teams have failed.
Not only that, half of the team is missing through suspension, illness or injury. So we’ll not see Paul Pogba, Anthony Martial, Alexis Sánchez, Ander Herrera, Jesse Lingard, Juan Mata, Nemanja Matic, Phil Jones, Matteo Darmian or Antonio Valencia tonight.
And Paris Saint Germain will take some toppling if United are to make it to the quarters. They’ve lost only two of their last 50 European home games, and those defeats were at the hands of eventual champions Barcelona (in 2015) and Real Madrid (last year). Additionally, they’ve only ever lost once at home to English opposition in nine matches, Chelsea beating them in the 2004-05 groups. Yes, it’s fair to say Manchester United are up against it here.
And yet, and yet … les garçons, c’est le PSG. The Parisians are famously fond of a collapse, having been on the receiving end of the greatest turnaround in Champions League history, Barcelona wiping out a four-goal first-leg deficit in 2017. They’ve got form. Meanwhile only last night Ajax showed United how anything’s possible, humiliating Real Madrid on their own turf 4-1 to sashay into the quarters. Something’s in the air.
United have staged the odd European recovery mission too, Turin ‘99 and all that. If they get an early goal tonight, they may start to believe the improbable is possible … while PSG may start to experience some very sickening flashbacks. It’s the Champions League! Ole’s at the wheel! It’s on!
Kick off: 9pm local time at the Parc des Princes, 8pm back in Blighty.
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