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PSG v Chelsea: Hopes lie with Ibrahimovic

Paris Saint-Germain go into Wednesday night's Champions clash with Chelsea in good form, but the feeling is that if they are to have any chance of overcoming Jose Mourinho's men, their star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic will have to be at the top of his game.

PSG v Chelsea: Hopes lie with Ibrahimovic
Do PSG's hopes of beating Chelsea rest with Zlatan Ibrahimovic? Photo: Franck Fife/AFP

"Zlatan we are counting on you," was the headline in Le Parisien newspaper on Wednesday morning ahead of PSG's Champions League quarter final clash with English Premier League side Chelsea.

The daily, which does not try to hide its backing for the French capital's team, knows that if PSG are to stand any chance of beating Jose Mourinho's Chelsea then their Swedish international striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic will have to be at his best.

Ibrahimovic should be fired up by the perception that he is not highly regarded in England. The striker his back this week saying he doesn't need to prove his quality in the Premier League. He does however have the chance  to prove himself on Wednesday against a Premier League team, which should have Ibrahimovic fired up.

At the age of 32, the Swede seems to have belatedly reached his prime, with his tally of 40 goals in all competitions this season breaking the PSG club record. But his record against English clubs is fairly poor with only threee goals in 15 encounters.

He will want to put that right when he comes up against the likes of Chelsea stalwarts John Terry, Frank Lampard and co.

A poll in the Le Parisien suggests PSG fans are optimistic Zlatan as they call him will score against Chelsea with 89 percent believing he will find the net.

PSG, who boast other world class players such as Uruguayan Edinson Cavani and Brazilian Thiago Silva are aiming to win their first ever Champions League title and dream of being in the final in Lisbon on May 24th.

But first they must overcome a Chelsea-side who won the trophy themselves only two years ago.

The meeting of PSG and Chelsea looks like the most evenly balanced of all the quarter-final ties but, while Ibrahimovic acknowledges that Paris represents his last chance to win the greatest prize in European football, he insists that José Mourinho's side must be considered the 'super favourites' to advance to the last four.

"I think that the biggest possibility to win it is with Paris because this is my last contract in Europe," he said with a nod to a decade of disappointments at this level.

"This year we are in the quarter-finals against a fantastic team. We have nothing to lose. I think we did a fantastic season so far and every game we win from now on is a bonus for us.

"It is a project (that has been) going on for two years and we are beginners in everything we do. Chelsea has a project going on for 10 years. They've already won the Champions League, the Europa League, they have a great coach.

"I think all of the teams in the last eight are strong but Chelsea are the super favourites."

The Swede also insisted that PSG are a better side now than 12 months ago, when they were eliminated on away goals by Barcelona under Carlo Ancelotti.

But under the Italian's successor Laurent Blanc, PSG are 13 points clear at the top of Ligue 1 and on course to win the League Cup while also hoping to reach the last four in the Champions League for the first time in 19 years.

Blanc has brought the best of his side with a 4-3-3 formation and a possession-based game and he confirmed that they will not change their way of playing just to counteract Chelsea's counterattacking approach.

"We have analysed Chelsea and prepared this match as we normally do. I suppose Chelsea will have prepared like us," he said.

"We have contrasting styles. But which is the most efficient? We will see over the two legs, but I think that both teams will maintain their philosophy in both games.

"If we start to worry about Chelsea on the break and change our approach, our own game will become less natural and our collective performance will not be at the level we want it to be.

"We know how Chelsea like to play and we know they will create chances on the break, so we will pay attention to that, but putting everyone behind the ball is not our style."

There are similarities between the two clubs, both of whom are bankrolled by mega rich owners who have invested heavily in the team in a bid to join European football's elite.

Just as Chelsea were transformed after being taken over by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich a decade ago, the arrival of Qatar Sports Investments has made PSG capable of competing with Europe's very best, and the squad stand to earn a bonus of 1 million euros (£826,000, $1.38m) per man if they win the trophy.

Silva will sport a mask to protect a fractured cheekbone but Gregory van der Wiel is unlikely to play due to a nagging knee problem so Christoph.

Jallet is set to play at right-back. For Chelsea, Mourinho has said he expects Samuel Eto'o to miss the game because of a hamstring injury and Nemanja Matic is ineligible.

Tickets for the sell-out match atthe Parc des Princes have reportedly been selling for up to ten times face value on the internet, with prices of up to €2,500 quoted by some news sites.

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FOOTBALL

OPINION: Mbappé’s title, but PSG need to breathe new life into Qatari project

After being the star of France's 2018 World Cup triumph, Kylian Mbappé has been the standout player for Paris Saint-Germain in a Ligue 1 title-winning campaign that has been slightly marred by the manner in which they limped over the line.

OPINION: Mbappé's title, but PSG need to breathe new life into Qatari project
Photos AFP

PSG finally wrapped up the title on Sunday after second-placed Lille failed to beat Toulouse, having not won any of their previous three games when the opportunity to confirm a sixth French crown in seven seasons was there.

The Qatari-owned club can still make it a domestic double, with the French Cup final to come against Rennes next weekend, yet this will not be remembered as a vintage year.

While Neymar once again went missing due to injury at the crucial point, Edinson Cavani has struggled with fitness too, and coach Thomas Tuchel has regularly lashed out at the lack of depth in his squad.

The 5-1 capitulation at Lille a week ago was the worst league result for PSG since Qatar Sports Investments bought the club in 2011, and the first time they had let in five in a league game since 2000.

A record-breaking 14-match winning run with which they started the season now seems like a long time ago, the latest Champions League failure clouding Tuchel's first campaign in charge.

Mbappé, at least, has been a constant, revelling in his status as a World Cup winner and hardly ever being rested. He only turned 20 in December, but has now won three Ligue 1 titles in a row.

Mbappé has 36 goals in 40 games this season, with 30 in the league. And, frighteningly, his team-mate Daniel Alves told RMC recently that “he doesn't realise how good he is, he can go much further”.

He is also not used to losing, and may have upset some of his teammates with his assessment of last week's defeat at Lille. “We played like beginners,” he said.

Hollow ring

To be fair, they have usually been exceptional domestically. However, the problem is that as long as they keep failing in the Champions League, domestic success for a club backed by a Gulf state will continue to ring hollow.

The title has effectively been in the bag for some time, but their season has been winding down ever since their exit against Manchester United in the last 16.

That, combined with being knocked out in the League Cup quarter-finals, means Tuchel in his first season has actually done worse than Unai Emery, his unloved predecessor.

Paris Saint-Germain coach Thomas Tuchel has actually done worse than his predecessor, Unai Emery
However, according to sports daily L'Equipe, Tuchel has agreed to extend his contract to 2021. Thoughts have already turned to the future, with new signings needed at the Parc des Princes.

The costly Neymar experiment cannot be said to have succeeded until he stays fit for the games that matter, and there will always be speculation about his future.

“We have a contract, we're not even halfway through that contract,” Neymar's father pointed out to RMC Sport.

Time for a clear-out? 

Mbappé is the one man they really cannot afford to lose, but is it time for a clear-out elsewhere?

Some of the excitement of the early part of the decade has gone, replaced with a staleness. The days of Thiago Silva, Edinson Cavani and Marco Verratti are maybe ending.

Youri Djorkaeff, a World Cup winner for France and a PSG star in the 1990s, offers a frank assessment, suggesting real change is needed higher up.

“If you're not great in every compartment, from the bus driver to the girls who clean the shirts, you will go nowhere,” he told Ligue 1 Podcast, 'Le Beau Jeu'.

“Paris Saint-Germain, after many years without success, have to rebuild everything, restart from scratch, because the foundations are not good. You cannot expect to one day win the Champions League without these foundations.”

The Qatar project needs a breath of fresh air, and all eyes will be on president Nasser al-Khelaifi and sporting director Antero Henrique.

UEFA's Financial Fair Play rules remain a problem, though, with PSG said to have a hole of around 100 million euros and the need to present a balanced budget by the end of June. The next few months will be interesting.

By Andy Scott/AFP

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