Cypriot champions APOEL earned plenty of plaudits for their performance in losing 1-0 to Barcelona at the Camp Nou in their Group F opener, but if they are to stand any prospect of progressing they will need to beat Ajax in Nicosia.
Ajax held Paris Saint-Germain to a 1-1 draw last time out and Frank de Boer’s side head to the Mediterranean island fresh from a 5-2 victory at NAC Breda at the weekend, a game in which Kolbeinn Sigthórsson scored a hat-trick. The four-time European champions have performed poorly away from home in the competition recently but surely only a win would keep them in with a chance of finishing any higher than third in the section.
PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN V BARCELONA
The Parc des Princes will be the scene for the heavyweight showdown of the French champions and Luis Enrique’s Barcelona. The clubs clashed in the quarter-finals 18 months ago, when Paris held their more illustrious opponents in both legs but lost on away goals. PSG are desperate to win the most prestigious trophy in European football, but they have had a cumbersome start to the season and have drawn four of their last five matches.
“We are aware that last season we dominated the league and this year, with the same team and the same coach, we are not winning matches so easily,” says coach Laurent Blanc, a former team-mate of Luis Enrique at the Camp Nou. In contrast, Barcelona have enjoyed an excellent start to the campaign and are still to concede a goal never mind lose a game. With Lionel Messi and Neymar in fine form, and Gerard Pique back in the squad, they look like marginal favourites against a PSG side missing Thiago Silva and Ezequiel Lavezzi and with a doubt over Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
source: vanguardng
No comments:
Post a Comment