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CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

PSG

PSG to play Chelsea in quarter finals

Paris Saint-Germain will play Chelsea in the last eight of the Champions League after the big spending Paris club were draw against the English team in Friday's draw. If PSG win the Champions League their players will each pick up a record €1 million bonus.

PSG to play Chelsea in quarter finals
Zlatan Ibrahimovic and co will line up against Chelsea in the quarter finals of the Champions League. Photo: AFP

Laurent Blanc's PSG side face a tough task against Chelsea in the quarter finals of the Champions League.

The French club, bidding to win the competition for the first time were paired with the Premier League leaders in Friday's draw. 

Barcelona will play Athletico Madrid, Real Madrid will play Dortmund and Man United will play Bayern Munich.

Both team's will probably be happy with the draw after avoiding favourites Bayern Munich and the Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid.

The tie sets up a mouth-watering clash between PSG's star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic and England stalwart John Terry, who will also have the job of stopping PSG's other stellar forward Edinson Cavani.

Jose Mourinho's team will be favourite's on paper to get through to the semi final's as the Portuguese bids to win the competition with three different clubs, after winning the Champions League with Porto and Inter Milan.

Laurent Blanc, however will be quietly confident that with Ibrahimovic, Cavani and Brazilian Lucas, he has the weapons to pose Chelseea a few problems or two.

The first leg will take place at the Parc des Prines in Paris on 1/2nd of April with the return leg a week later on April 8/9th.

Such is their desire to win their first Champions League trophy, PSG's owners, QSI (Qatar Sports Investments' are offering an eye-watering €1-million bonus to each player if they manage to triumph in the final in Lisbon on May 24th.

That would represent the biggest bonuses ever paid out in the history of football, French newspaper L'Equipe claimed this week.

The previous highest bonuses handed out were in the region of €800,000 (£667,000, $1.1m) that Bayern Munich players pocketed for their Champions League triumph last season as well as winning the German title and German Cup.

With a squad of 25 players for the Champions League, the club's president Nasser al Khelaifi could be looking at a total payout of around €25 million, although it is not clear whether only first team regulars would qualify for the €1 million jackpot.

According to French sports daily L'Équipe, PSG’s star striker, the Sweden international Zlatan Ibrahimovic, negotiated the bonus with Khelaifi.

Ibrahimovic is clearly not short of cash after he was listed in the world’s top five richest players this week.

To put that in perspective the windfall up for grabs for PSG’s players, including Uruguayan Edinson Cavani and Brazil’s Thiago Silva, is double that on the table for the players of Spanish giant’s Real Madrid.

PSG’s players are however no strangers to receiving big bonuses.

Last year the team, which then included England’s David Beckham were handed €240,000 for getting to the quarter finals of the Champions League, where they were knocked out by Barcelona.

They also pocketed €400,000 each for winning the league, which PSG look likely to do again this year after building up an eight-point lead over fellow mega-rich club Monaco.

PSG’s Qatari owners are desperate to see the Paris club join Europe’s elite like Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.

One thing that would no doubt thrust the club into the big time is winning the Champions League. 

But they will have to get past Chelsea first.

What do you think? Can they do it?

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IBRAHIMOVIC

Zlatan has been ‘cured’ of coronavirus: AC Milan

AC Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been given the all-clear to end his quarantine period and return to action after testing negative for coronavirus, the Serie A club announced on Friday.

Zlatan has been 'cured' of coronavirus: AC Milan
Zlatan Ibrahimovic celebrates after scoring a goal in September. Photo: Miguel Medina/AFP
Milan confirmed in a statement that the Swedish striker had “tested negative” twice in a row, as stipulated in the protocol to be able to lift the quarantine procedure.
   
Ibrahimovic, 39, sounded a more triumphal note on his social media: “You are cured! The health authority says the quarantine is over, you can go out!”, he wrote on Twitter.

The announcement comes a day after Milan said Ibrahimovic had tested positive a second time for Covid-19, putting in doubt his participation in the Milan derby on October 17.
 
   
Ibrahimovic first tested positive on September 24.
   
The derby remains in doubt with two other Milan players and five from Inter currently in self-quarantine.
   
In spite of his absence, Milan have made a decent start to the season, having climbed to second in Serie A after winning all three of their games and reaching the group stages of the Europa League.
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