🔬 CL under the microscope: Paris Saint-Germain | OneFootball

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Lewis Ambrose·9 August 2020

🔬 CL under the microscope: Paris Saint-Germain

Article image:🔬 CL under the microscope: Paris Saint-Germain

Oh it’s so close they can almost touch it. After years obsessing over the Champions League, PSG are just three games away.

With the remaining eight teams all in Lisbon ready to fight it out for the trophy, here’s a closer look at PSG


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🏆 What’s their Champions League pedigree like?

Article image:🔬 CL under the microscope: Paris Saint-Germain

Look away now, PSG fans. Despite the millions and millions pumped into the team over recent years, this is their first quarter-final since 2016. They haven’t gone further than this since 1995, when they posted a club-best campaign with a semi-final exit.

✈️ How did they get here and what’s their route to the final?

Article image:🔬 CL under the microscope: Paris Saint-Germain

PSG flew through this season’s group stage, scoring 17 goals and picking up 16 points from a group that contained Real Madrid, Galatasaray and Club Brugge.

The last 16 saw them beat Borussia Dortmund behind closed doors at the Parc des Princes, overcoming a first leg defeat in the process.

Atlanta await them in the last eight, then the winner of Atlético Madrid v RB Leipzig in the semi-final.


🥳  Why should I root for them?

Because they can be so exciting to watch when it all clicks. Is there a more fun duo in world football than Neymar and Mbappé?

😡 Why won’t everyone be rooting for them?

There’s the small matter of being financed by Qatar Sports Investments and it’s safe to say Neymar isn’t popular with everyone.


✅ What makes them so good?

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Their attack is mouth-wateringly talented. Neymar and Mbappé are two of the best dribblers and finishers in world football, stopping those two is tough enough but then you also have two of Ángel di María, Mauro Icardi and Edinson Cavani to deal with.

❌ And what’s their biggest weakness?

Thomas Tuchel demands intense work and high pressing. But it’s not easy to get that amount of effort out of star names. When things aren’t going their way, they aren’t always willing to put the extra work in to tough it out.


🔮 How will they line up?

It depends on if Tuchel wants to throw everything forward or be a bit more conservative but he has tended to play a star-studded front four this season.

Kylian Mbappé and Marco Verratti are both injury doubts.

Article image:🔬 CL under the microscope: Paris Saint-Germain

They will …

… be losing finalists.