French powerhouses Paris St-Germain take on Premier League side Manchester City in their first-leg quarterfinal match of the UEFA Champions League Wednesday at the Parc des Princes. Win or lose, it will be a historic moment for the Citizens from Manchester as they feature in the last eight of the European competition for the first time ever.
The positive news for the Premier League side remains the availability of England custodian Joe Hart, who has not played a part for his team since injuring his calf on March 20. "Hart has had medical and physical tests and has no problems to play," Man City manager Manuel Pellegrini told the BBC ahead of the match.
PSG, meanwhile, have reached the quarterfinal of the UEFA Champions League three consecutive times, but failed to make a place for themselves in the final of the competition on every single occasion. They will thus be desperate to get a good result this time.
With the Ligue 1 title already won by PSG this season, they are expected to put their entire focus to the Champions League now. "They say experience can make the difference in ties such as this and that every detail counts," PSG coach Laurent Blanc told UEFA. "After the [Champions League] draw, some were relieved and said it was a good one for us as we avoided the two giants, Barcelona and Bayern. I strongly warned my players not to listen to that.
"Those who say that don't understand anything about football. We'll be up against a team with quality and quality in depth — their squad overall has much more quality than ours. These will be two difficult and delicate games."
On paper, PSG look the stronger team by all means, and even Pellegrini admits as much. However, the Chilean coach has urged his army not to back down from the challenge. "It'll be difficult but I believe we have a chance," Pellegrini said.
"Paris are a very good team, with a project similar to Manchester City in a sense, trying to grow year by year. Both teams have an opportunity to push on. I don't think there's a clear favourite in this tie."
Yaya Toure, Raheem Sterling and Vincent Kompany will miss the game for the Citizens.
Where to watch live
PSG vs Manchester City is scheduled to kick-off at 8:45 p.m. CET (12:15 a.m. IST, 7:45 p.m. GMT, 3:45 p.m. ET), April 6.
Viewers in India can catch the game on Ten Action, while the streaming option of the game is also available on tensports.com.
UK viewers can catch the game on BT Sport Europe, while the online live stream option is on BT Sport Live. The BT Sport app will also show the match Live. Radio commentary will be available on BBC Radio 5 Live.
US viewers can catch the game on Fox Sports 1 USA and Fox Deportes. The option of live streaming is also available on FoxSoccer2Go and Fox Sports Go.
People in France can tune into beIN Sports 1.
