Paris Saint-Germain would not like to make things complicated for themselves and instead take a more straightforward route to the Champions League Round of 16 by overcoming the Borussia Dortmund challenge on Wednesday.
From Group F, Dortmund have sealed their place in the next round with a fine 3-1 win over Milan and heads the standings with 10 points. But Paris can join them, that too as group winners, if they can beat the German outfit for the second time in this edition.
Though the equation looks quite uncomplicated, the job for Paris will not be that easy. Why? Because the facts and figures that lurk in the background say so.
For starters, Paris have lost their last three away Champions League fixtures. If that suggests that star forward Kylian Mbappe needs to be extra efficient on Wednesday to help Paris get goals, that would be saying only half the story.
That’s because Dortmund have conceded just once in their last seven home Champions League games.
It also doesn’t help Paris that the last time they kept a clean sheet in an away Champions League game was way back in October 2020. Since then they have gone 15 away matches in the European competition without a clean sheet.
“The most important thing is to focus on ourselves,” said Paris coach Luis Enrique.
“If we win, we’re going to finish first, but even if we lose, we could go through to the next phase. It’s so complicated, but I hope we can make it easier by winning against Dortmund.”
Dortmund, however, have identified Paris’ away form in the Champions League as one of their opponents’ weaknesses, coach Edin Terzic said.
“We play against PSG in front of a sold-out stadium. That is all the motivation we need to go for a win,” Terzic told a media conference on Tuesday.
“We know what qualities they have as a team but we have also seen their defensive issues in away games. If we are courageous and have a level of intensity in our game, we can cause any opponent problems.”
Paris lost both group matches on the road this season — in Newcastle and Milan.
“They (Paris) know they need to win here to secure their place (in the next round) and they also know we want to win it,” Terzic said.
The Dortmund coach will be without suspended captain Emre Can while a decision on the availability of Marcel Sabitzer and Marius Wolf will be taken on matchday.
Both had missed Saturday’s 2-3 loss to RB Leipzig with minor injuries.
There was some good news for Terzic, though, with forward Sebastien Haller having recovered from injury and cleared to play.
“Haller will be back. He has no problems,” Terzic said.
Newcastle host AC Milan in a must-win meeting of the other two teams of the group, but Paris can yet deny them both.
Four places in the pre-quarters are left to fight for and the Premier League risks having just Manchester City and Arsenal in the draw on December 18.
That would be England’s weakest challenge in the knockout draw for 11 years and at the worst possible time.
Bonus extra entries in the revamped 36-team Champions League next season are given to the two countries whose teams have the best collective record across the three Uefa competitions this season.
Other contests
In the other matches, a draw would suit Porto against Shakhtar Donetsk because they had defeated the Ukrainian champions in the group opener in September, while Barcelona lead the group and would finish at Royal Antwerp, the only team with five straight losses.
Porto and Shakhtar Donetsk both have nine points in Group H. Porto hold a slight advantage, but the Ukrainian side haven’t given up on a fairy-tale progression.
“No one expected us to be in contention for the knockouts heading into the final matchday, but this is our little dream. We hope to realise it,” said defender Valeriy Bondar.
Midfielder Oleksandr Zubkov added: “We can allow ourselves to dream a bit. It will be the decisive game, full of emotions.”
In Group E, first place is on the line, with Lazio needing a victory to deny Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid that honour.
With inputs from Reuters
