Champions League preview: Paris Saint-Germain vs Borussia Dortmund
They’ve already wrapped up the league title. And Paris didn’t play in Ligue 1 this weekend – which means Luis Enrique’s side should be fresh and focused for this semi-final second leg.
Does that spell doom for Borussia Dortmund? The Bundesliga side enjoy a 1-0 lead after the first leg, Niclas Fullkrug scoring to give Dortmund the advantage.
With a place in next month’s final at Wembley the prize, can Edin Terzic’s side frustrate Kylian Mbappe and co at the Parc des Princes on Tuesday?
Mbappe remains the hosts’ biggest threat
The German team won 5-1 against Augsburg this weekend, which is promising – though the Parisiens will surely offer a far greater challenge on home turf than they did in the reverse fixture.
In that first game Mbappe hit the post and had three shots on goal. The Frenchman remains the hosts’ likeliest candidate to turn this match around.
For Dortmund, Jadon Sancho was the standout performer of the first leg; can the Englishman be similarly effective in this decisive encounter?
The expectation is that with home advantage, PSG are unlikely to fluff their lines against this opposition. So will Dortmund simply focus on protecting their slender lead and hope that’s enough to edge this contest?
The German side have conceded in all but one of their away games in this Champions League campaign, keeping a clean sheet against Newcastle back in October.
PSG aren’t unstoppable at home
That said, they beat Bayern Munich 2-0 at the Allianz Arena back in March. And PSG aren’t unstoppable at home, with Barca winning here 3-2 in the round of 16.
Does that mean we’re backing the visitors to pull off a shock here? Well… maybe? Paris have been favourites in this competition on more than one occasion in the past, and it hasn’t quite happened for them.
The hosts surely have the quality to beat Dortmund. Who knows, maybe this will turn into a cakewalk, with PSG romping to victory. But those previous failures to get the job done suggest it’s best not to take anything for granted.
Actually, you can probably take one thing for granted. Mbappe has scored eight CL goals so far in this campaign, the joint highest total this season (Harry Kane has also scored eight times); if Mbappe is to end his time in Paris on a high, this would be a wonderful time to find the net.
Mbappe is 2/1 to score first.
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