It’s only been 10 days since Champions League football resumed and here we are ready with the semi finalists of the 1st one, the French powerhouses Paris Saint Germain and the lively,invigorating Leipzig. On one hand, PSG after years of failure in the knockout stages finally qualify for the semi finals, that too had seemed uncertain until the last 3 minutes of their quarter finals against Atalanta turned it in their favour and on the other side Leipzig who were formed in 2009 are already on a roll in their first Champions League campaign. With an average age of just 24 years, they play an excited brand of football inspired by their young coach Julian Nagelsmann. PSG will not want to miss the golden opportunity to go through the finals for the first time a lot of which depends on the exploits of Neymar and Mbappe.
Players to miss out
RB Leipzig
Ibrahima Konate is the only player missing out for the Germans through injury. Their top goalscorer, Timo Werner seems to be a thing of the past as they have quickly adapted after his departure for Chelsea.
PSG
Keylor Navas is set to miss out this crucial tie with a muscular issue along with Marco Verratti.Idrissa Gueye’s participation is also in doubt after picking up a niggle in the last match. Angel Di Maria is set to return from suspension after missing out on the last game.
Players to watch out for
RB Leipzig
Dayot Upamecano
After a match winning performance against Atletico Madrid, he has grabbed more and more eyeballs with his pinpoint passes, clean tackling, defending and once again Leipzig will need him more than ever to tackle the likes of Neymar, Mbappe, Icardi and Di Maria.
Marcel Sabitzer
Sabitzer has time and again proven his worth to the team by coming in with goals and perfect assists and was instrumental in the tie against Atletico wherein his perfectly measured cross converted by Dani Olmo gave the lead. He once again has to be at his usual best against the attacking PSG.
PSG
Neymar
Neymar is a no brainer to be included in this list. After missing out on the knockout stages of previous campaigns, he was indispensable to this PSG team who secured qualification thanks to Neymar goals in either ties of round of 16 and a match winning performance against Atletico. Yes, his finishing was not at all upto the mark but a player of his calibre can turn things around in no time.
Kylian Mbappe
The partner in mischief of Neymar proved in the last clash just proved how much was he needed to shift a clash in favour of Parisians when they were trailing. The energy and the lightning speed that he brings to the table is a headache for the defenders.
As has been the case for most of the quarter finals tie, it can go either way with no clear favourites. It remains to be seen who seize their chances on the day. Julian Nagelsmann’s boys will try to take advantage of the inexperienced Sergio Rico who has just played 9 games all season and replaces the injured Keylor Navas with Upamecano handed the big task of keeping PSG’s strikers at bay while PSG will be desperate to be efficient in front of the goal.
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