Courtesy: InsideSport
Manchester City prepares for the second leg of their Champions League semi-final match against Paris Saint-Germain at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday night, with Istanbul firmly in their sights.
PSG have a difficult task against a Manchester City defence that has only allowed 24 goals in the Premier League this season. However, if any club is capable of accomplishing that feat, it is PSG, which boasts a truly incredible attacking unit that will be desperate for retribution after being completely outplayed in the second half of the first leg.
Head to Head:
Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain have only met four times before, with the Citizens holding a two-win and two-draw lead in the head-to-head.
Predicted line-up:
Aguero, Laporte and Torres performed well against Crystal Palace on the weekend. However, it seems unlikely that they will play in the starting XI for PSG, even though they performed well. One change from the triumph in France could come at left-back, with Aleks Zinchenko replacing Joao Cancelo.
Predicted City XI: Ederson, Walker, Stones, Dias, Zinchenko, De Bruyne, Rodri, Gundogan, Mahrez, Bernardo, Foden.
Danilo Pereira and Ander Herrera will hope to fill in for ex-Everton midfielder Idrissa Gueye, who was sent off in the first leg against City for a shocking challenge on Ilkay Gundogan.
However, Pochettino may decide to move the versatile Verratti deeper and slot in someone like Draxler further forward if he needs a dominant attacking performance on Tuesday.
PSG predicted XI:Â Navas, Florenzi, Marquinhos, Kimpembe, Bakker, Paredes, Verratti, Draxler, Di Maria, Mbappe, Neymar
Prediction:
If Mbappe is unable to play, PSG’s chances of overcoming such a deficit will be severely harmed, though he is included in the travelling squad confirmed on Monday, despite manager Mauricio Pochettino’s concerns.
PSG will go all out in order to get crucial away goals, however, it would be difficult to get past City-defence. Moreover, they would need to make sure not to concede, otherwise, it would be game over for them.
Considering the current form and line-ups, we predict a 2-2 score-line, hence City would move forward on aggregate.
City to finish the job or Paris to come storming back? 🤔#UCLfixtures | @GazpromFootball | #UCL
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) May 4, 2021