Paris Saint-Germain vs. Real Madrid
Dani Alves has urged Paris Saint-Germain to “seize the moment” and shock the football world by knocking out reigning Champions League holders Real Madrid.
PSG face Real at the Parc des Princes in Paris tonight and go into the round of 16 second-leg clash 3-1 down after losing in Spain two weeks ago. PSG’s chances have been further hit with the injury to star striker Neymar, but Alves says that even without his Brazil team-mate the French side must go out and make “history”.
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Quoted by the Daily Express, the 34-year-old said: “We have two options. We can cry about Neymar’s injury or lift ourselves.
“What are PSG missing? Matches like this to show that Paris is not all about money. I came here because I am a competitor - it’s in my blood. And being part of the history of the club isn’t something you can buy.
“If I speak to the squad, I’ll say we have to seize this important moment. History is there to be changed. Changing history was one of the big reasons I came here and now we have to do it. We can’t even think about it - we just have to do it. And we believe we can.”
Neymar’s injury is the only concern for PSG boss Unai Emery. ESPN reports that Kylian Mbappe, Edinson Cavani, Marco Verratti, Marquinhos and Javier Pastore have all been passed fit to face Real.
Defending champions Real Madrid may take a 3-1 lead to Paris but Sky Sports pundit Guillem Balague says the tie is “still in the balance”. Real won’t face Neymar, but with Angel Di Maria likely to feature in his place, PSG will definitely create chances.
Balague wrote: “Real Madrid always give you a moment where you can take the game away from them and PSG can certainly do that. It is impossible to predict but I think PSG have got a very good chance of coming through against a Real that switch on and off; you don’t always get away with that when you’re playing against an elite team like PSG.”
Liverpool vs. Porto
Even with their 5-0 advantage from the first-leg win in Portugal, Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp says he will only make two or three changes to his side for tonight’s clash at Anfield against Porto.
The Reds are all but through to the Champions League quarter-finals, but Klopp told the BBC: “We respect Porto too much and the competition too much to think about real rotation. We will prepare ourselves for the game and we want to win the second half of the tie.
“If it is a different line-up to Saturday, it is only because we want to win. Maybe one, two, three changes but only to win the game.”
Tonight’s Champions League last-16 second-leg fixtures
Liverpool vs. Porto (5-0 on aggregate)
Paris Saint-Germain vs. Real Madrid (1-3)
