Champions League - Paris Saint-Germain vs Chelsea

The first leg of the Round of 16 of the 2014-15 UEFA Champions League sees Chelsea travel to Paris to face off against PSG for the third time in the space of a year, having last term been pitted against the Ligue 1 champions in the quarterfinals of this same competition.










In the first leg of that tie, also at the Parc Des Princes, the Blues were handed a damaging 3-1 defeat on the night. Ezequiel Lavezzi put his side in front on just 3 minutes when a poor clearance in his own box from Gary Cahill presented the ball to the unmarked Argentine, who fired home without doubt. The visitors then received their own slice of luck when 25 minutes in, a seemingly questionable going-to-ground from Oscar saw referee Milorad Mažić point to the spot, before Eden Hazard converted to draw his side level and earn them a crucial away goal. It was one that would come much in handy, too, as the home side went on to score another 2 on the evening through David Luiz heading into his own net an hour in, and a late solo goal from one-time Chelsea target Javier Pastore in the last minute of regular time.





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Just finished up their league match for the weekend (at home). Leading 2-0 in the 88th-minute, match ended 2-2

Shed wrote:Just finished up their league match for the weekend (at home). Leading 2-0 in the 88th-minute, match ended 2-2

And their english twitter account tweeted this before they conceded the goals.



This is an instant classic.

If they cannot field a full strength team, we should go in trying to get the win.

And after a full weeks rest, we should be able to field a full strength side against them.

Kick wrote:If they cannot field a full strength team, we should go in trying to get the win.

And after a full weeks rest, we should be able to field a full strength side against them.

10 men behind the ball incoming

I know

We could win this tie in the first game

Very less Chance for Brainless Blanc.

Corner a dog in a dead end street and it will turn and bite.
We have lost far easier fixtures before.

huntsman wrote:We have lost far easier fixtures before.

This. Not to mention the fact that they'll unquestionably raise their game for these two matches.

Honestly, I won't mind if we lose. I would like to see us win the EPL, and surely City won't get passed Barca.

That's why I've almost no worries at all going into these matches. If we go through - fantastic. If we don't - fantastic. Numerous advantages to both.

Indeed.

At the end of the day, any further in the CL is a bonus, not mandatory.

Kick wrote:Indeed.

At the end of the day, any further in the CL is a bonus, not mandatory.

Hasn't Mou reached the semis with you every season he has been Chelsea manager bar one season where he lost to the winners (Barcelona)? Semis must be the minimal for Chelsea.

Its a fact that this will be team

Cech
Ivan-Cahill-Terry-Azpi
Matic-Ramires
Willian-Cesc-Hazard
Costa

Hoping for a draw with an away goal here.

Yea, I think that our previous CL campaigns showed that the CL is too unpredictable and thus we should only put expectations and measure Chelsea's strength with the PL.
However, I have a good feeling about this year's CL, I feel like the planets are aligning, like everything in the universe is going smoothly for us to win it.


As for the match, I honestly don't know how we will approach it. Mou is not the type that doesn't learn from his mistakes and the last time we played PSG away we lost 3-1 and needed a miracle to progress, but at the same time I can't see us playing too cautiously because not scoring an away goal against Atleti is what killed us in the semi.

Personally, I think we should put a lot of pressure on Verratti, Motta, Matuidi to gain the ball high on the pitch and disconnect the midfield from the attack, which is what we did last year in our return leg, and unlike last season, we'll have Matic who's great at ball-winning and I believe Ramires, who played that match, should also play this one for this reason. Plus both Azpi and Iva should push high to force their wingers to track them and not double mark our wingers or to stuck the middle and thus giving Cesc/Willy/Hazard more room to operate. We should exploit the right-side of their defence - Luiz and Van der Wiel - because I feel that's their weak-link in defense. Costa should make a lot of movements towards this area to either try to finish himself or drag defenders and create even more chaos in their defence and more freedom to Hazard.

We're going to need him badly. I don't care if he hasn't scored yet in the CL, when he's leading the line it's just something else and offers so much other than scoring. Obviously I hope he'll start scoring in the CL as well.

Honestly hoping Matuidi doesn't play.

Motta and Verrati in Midfield will be a blessing for us.

No Lucas is also great news for us.

Does PSG's twitter account try to be as cringey as possible? Cause if so, they succeed tenfold and then some.
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