Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini believes his players can still win the Champions League and knows that a positive result at the Parc des Princes in the first-leg tonight will go a long way in determining whether they have any chance of making it to the semi-finals.
With the French Ligue 1 title all but wrapped up yet again, French champions Paris Saint-Germain will enter tonight’s match with the objective of inflicting a win over City which will make the second-leg at the Etihad irrelevant.
City for their part are coming of a 0-4 win away to Premier League strugglers Bournemouth buoyed by the fact they managed to keep a clean sheet, something the defensive pairing of Nicolas Otamendi and Eliaquim Mangala will hope to repeat as they attempt to shackle PSG star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, with the Swedish international already having four goals and three assists under his belt in Champions League competition so far this season.
PSG also enters the match with concerns over the fitness of midfield playmakers Javier Pastore, Angel di Maria and Marco Veratti, with City knowing that if even one of these players is missing it can knock PSG off their game.
It is absolutely vital that the visitors manage to get at least one away goal in tonight’s encounter, and with that in mind will be looking for the now fit Kevin De Bruyne to help ease the burden placed on David Silva and Sergio Aguero to deliver the goods, as has been the case when all three have started with Aguero finding the back of the net 12 times in just seven games.
There are some clouds over City however in the form of injuries that will likely see Joe Hart miss the proceedings as he recovers from a strained calf muscle, while all City fans hope Yaya Toure will be fit enough to play alongside Fernando and Fernandinho.
On a good Day City can beat any team and should be in a positive frame of mind given their recent results which has us predicting that the Mancunian’s return home with the match on level pegging’s following a 2-2 draw.
