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Saturday sees a pre-season friendly game between French giants Paris St. Germain and Serie A side Genoa at the Stade de la Source in Orleans.
Both Paris St. Germain and Genoa won their previous pre-season friendlies - PSG beating Augsburg and Genoa beating FC Wacker Innsbruck II.
PSG will likely come into this game as the favorites, but as it’s pre-season, anything goes and Genoa will aim to pick up an upset victory.
Paris St. Germain vs Genoa Head-to-Head
After finishing second in Ligue 1 and crashing out of the Champions League in the semi-finals, Paris St. Germain will be desperate to get back to winning major trophies in the upcoming 2021-22 season.
Mauricio Pochettino has already been given a number of new signings to help him along the way, including Gianluigi Donnarumma and Sergio Ramos, but it seems doubtful that they will be involved this weekend.
Even without their most gaudy names, PSG were able to brush aside Augsburg in a 1-2 victory earlier this week, and also defeated Le Mans 4-0 in another pre-season game this month.
Genoa, meanwhile, finished in a respectable 11th place in Serie A in 2020-21, an improvement on their 17th-place finish in the previous campaign.
That didn’t look likely until new boss Davide Ballardini took over in December, after which Genoa saw a major upturn in their form and gradually climbed the table. They’ll be looking to improve again in the upcoming 2021-22 season.
Genoa’s pre-season matches thus far have offered some hope, with wins over FC Stubai and FC Wacker Innsbruck II. But neither side offers the kind of challenge that Paris St. Germain will.
This will be the first head-to-head meeting between these sides, as PSG have never faced off with Genoa before.
Paris St. Germain form guide: W-W-W-D-W
Genoa form guide: W-L-W-W-W
Paris St. Germain vs Genoa Team News
Paris St. Germain
It’s still unlikely that we’ll see most of PSG’s big names in this match, as the majority are still on a well-earned vacation following Euro 2020 and the recent Copa America. However, PSG still have plenty of top stars to choose from.
Injured: None
Doubtful: Gianluigi Donnarumma, Achraf Hakimi, Presnel Kimpembe, Sergio Ramos, Marquinhos, Timothee Pembele, Marco Verratti, Leandro Paredes, Danilo Pereira, Georginio Wijnaldum, Kylian Mbappe, Neymar, Angel Di Maria, Pablo Sarabia
Suspended: None
Genoa
Genoa are in the same boat as PSG for this game, with their international players likely to miss out. Of course, they have far less internationals than PSG and will be able to play something closer to their first XI.
Injured: None
Doubtful: Goran Pandev
Suspended: None
Paris St. Germain vs Genoa Predicted XI
Paris St. Germain predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Keylor Navas, Nathan Bitumazala, Thilo Kehrer, Teddy Alloh, Abdou Diallo, Eric Ebimbe, Idrissa Gueye, Julian Draxler, Xavi Simons, Bandiougou Fadiga, Arnaud Kalimuendo
Genoa predicted XI (3-5-2): Alberto Paleari, Edoardo Goldaniga, Cristian Zapata, Andrea Masiello, Filippo Melegoni, Yayah Kallon, Nicolo Rovella, Kevin Strootman, Domenico Criscito, Eldor Shomurodov, Miha Zajc
Paris St. Germain vs Genoa Prediction
Genoa promise to offer PSG their trickiest challenge thus far in the pre-season campaign. Having said that, this is still a match that Mauricio Pochettino’s side should win comfortably, even if they continue to play their younger talent.
Prediction: Paris St. Germain 2-0 Genoa
