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The UEFA Champions League, the biggest tournament in club football, returns this week with the first leg of the round of 16 clashes, with the duel between Manchester United and PSG at Old Trafford as the headline of the week. United finished second in their group behind Juventus, while PSG toppled Liverpool and Napoli to finish top of their group.
Manchester United sacked Jose Mourinho after a series of shambolic performances that got United out of the League Cup and in the sixth position in the Premier League table. The Red Devils appointed Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who has wholly revived the club and have guided them to the fourth position in the Premier League.
PSG currently stand first in the French League and the Parisians are looking to win the Champions League for the first time in their history.
Without further ado, let us look at the three reasons why the French side could lose against the English giants:
#1 Manchester United's current form
Under Solskjaer, Manchester United are playing an attacking brand of football, which was missing since Sir Alex Ferguson took retirement in 2013. United are now unbeaten in 11 games since their 3-1 loss against Liverpool in December. United have dismantled every club in their path since that defeat against the Reds and it seems, they are not going to stop anytime soon.
The Norwegian has unlocked the true potentials of Paul Pogba, who struggled to a huge extent under the previous manager. The squad looks more confident than ever and are fighting to win each and every game.
The thirteen-times Premier League winners have found the back of the net 28 times and have conceded only seven since the drubbing at the hand of their rivals, Liverpool.
#2 PSG's injury crisis
The Ligue 1 Champions have a number of outstanding players like Neymar, Thomas Meunier and Edinson Cavani ruled out for the first leg clash due to injuries. It is still unclear whether the Italian midfielder Marco Verrati will make the squad in PSG's most important game yet.
Neymar has been the most influential player for the French side since joining them in 2017. The Brazilian has scored combined 18 goals out of 19 games in Ligue 1 and Champions League this season. PSG will miss the Brazilian's talent and his ability to score amazing goals and create them.
Cavani is the poacher in the box and the Parisians will be very disappointed due to the unavailability of the Uruguayan. PSG will be without passing and crossing strengths of the Belgian right-back, Meunier.
The Ligue 1 leaders are without the most experienced players of the squad viz Neymar and Cavani, who can turn around the tie on any given day.
#3 Performance of PSG against big European clubs
There is no denying the fact that the clubs which PSG face in Ligue 1 have qualities nowhere near to big European clubs. They have always struggled to match the supremacy of the clubs from Spain, England, and Germany.
In the group stages this season, Thomas Tuchel's men only managed to win just one out of four games over the two legs between Liverpool and Napoli.
It doesn't matter how PSG play in France, the Champions League is a completely a different tournament.
