UEFA Champions League Quarter Finals. Paris Saint-Germain will be hosting the English side Manchester City in their first leg. Laurent Blanc’s side eliminated the defending Premier League champions Chelsea in the round of 16 by winning both the legs by 2-1. On the other hand, Manchester City defeated Dynamo Kiev by winning the away leg by 3-1 and drawing 0-0 at home. PSG have won the last four games in this season’s Champions League and have scored at least 2 goals in each of them. Talking about Manchester City’s UEFA campaign, they have won 5 games in this season and have lost 2 against Juventus in the group stage.
Manchester City’s form this season has been very inconsistent. They have given several bad performances in the Premier League and eventually dropped themselves to the 4th place in the table. But, the team will be coming highly motivated for their first ever quarter-finals in the competition as they defeat Bournemouth by 4 goals to nil on Sunday. In terms of their head-to-head encounters, the two teams have clashed just once, back in 2008. The game ended without a winner and no goals were scored. PSG will be the favourite side this time as they have their home advantage and have a great experience of playing in the UEFA Champions League. Manchester City will be weakened in many aspects as their key players will be missing the games.
Here is the strongest predicted lineup for Manchester City that could give PSG a fight for money-
Goalkeeper: Joe Hart-
After that concussion he suffered against the city rivals Manchester United, he was ruled out. But the club has announced that the English Goalkeeper will be available against PSG. The goalkeeper sustained a calf muscle strain and his availability will be a big advantage as they face a tough test against the Ligue 1 champions. It will be a tough task for the goalkeeper to stop the shots from the Big Swedish attacker as the defence will be without their leader Kompany.
Defence: Zabaleta, Otamendi, Mangala, Clichy-
As mentioned earlier, City will be without their leader Vincent Kompany so surely they will have to work very hard to silence the attacks of the Germains. Luckily, Otamendi will be available at the defence so he could replace Demichelis who was heavily criticized due to his poor defending lately. Di Maria, Lucas Moura and Ibrahimovic can cause some real problems to the back four as the trio is very agile and is very quick. Di Maria can easily beat Clichy in terms of pace and Moura can also cause some threats to the Argentine Zabaleta. As Verratti and Pastore are not fully fit, Otamendi and Mangala will feel a huge sigh of relief.
Midfield: Fernandinho, Delph, Silva, Navas, De Bryne-
Manchester City’s manager Manuel Pellegrini has confirmed that the Ivorian midfielder, who has not played since the Manchester Derby, will be missing the game due to his knee injury. Raheem Sterling will also be out of the action due to his injury and the City side will be in some real crisis. But they have something to cheer about as the Belgian attacking midfielder Kevin De Bruyne will surely be starting the game and can play a big role in the City’s quest of Champions League. Silva and Navas will most probably start the game and Fabian Delph can start the game as a holding midfielder to replace Toure Yaya.
Striker: Sergio Aguero-
The only possible striking option in such big games for the City’s side and will surely start the game against the Germains. He is strong and a muscular player who can surely cut inside the Paris’s defence to score a goal. Alongside De Bryune, this player can be a real threat. If he plays well, City can surely beat Laurent Blanc’s side this time out.