Manchester City vs Paris St Germain – UEFA Cup – Pre Match

The next match I will visit will be Man City vs PSG in the UEFA Cup on Wednesday night (03/12/08). This post is a pre match post with any information I have in regards to injuries etc…

Match Background

• Paris Saint Germain manager Paul Le Guen has been to Manchester before, with his Olympique Lyonnais team taking on United in the 2004/05 UEFA Champions League group stage, drawing 2-2 in France but losing 2-1 at Old Trafford.
• This is City and PSG’s first meeting in UEFA club competition.
• City have never come up against French opponents before.
• Three PSG players have played in England in recent years. Claude Makelele was at Chelsea FC from 2004 until
  this summer, while Serbian striker Mateja Kežman spent the 2004/05 season at Stamford Bridge. Defender Zoumana
  Camara also sampled English football during a 2003/04 loan spell from RC Lens to Leeds United AFC.
• City manager Mark Hughes has faced French opposition as a player and a coach. His Blackburn Rovers FC side beat AS Nancy-Lorraine 1-0 in the 2006/07 UEFA Cup group stage, while during his days as a Manchester United FC player, he featured in both legs of a 1990/91 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup quarter-final tie against Montpellier Hérault FC, drawing 1-1 at Old Trafford but winning 2-0 in France.
• City have lost just two of their 25 European home games, drawing five and winning the other 18.
• Five of PSG’s last ten European away games have ended in 0-0 draws.
• FC Twente play Schalke in Wednesday’s other Group A game. Real Racing Club are the only side in the section
  not in action on Matchday 4.

Manchester City

• Manchester City go into the game on the back of a 1-0 derby defeat to Manchester United at the City of Manchester Stadium. Wayne Rooney bagged a goal on the 42nd minute to grab victory. Manager Mark Hughes said on the official website: (mcfc.co.uk)“We sat off too much and allowed them too much space to play and dictate the tempo of the game. That obviously wasn’t our game plan, we wanted to force the issue.“It was a huge effort by everybody and it took us a while to get going. We lacked that little bit of sharpness that we’ve seen in recent weeks. We got a second wind and forced the issue more but the sending off didn’t help us as much as people would have thought because they very quickly got people behind the ball and defended our efforts to attack.”

• Manchester City fans voted Vincent Kompany as the man of the match after the Man Utd game as he took 38% of the vote, Shaun Wright-Phillips was second with 32%.
• Injury Information: Robinho and Richards have ankle injuries and Wright-Phillips has a knee problem, while Gelson Fernandes (hamstring) is definitely ruled out.
• Manchester City currently lie 14th out of 20 in the Premier League, just 2 points above the relegation zone.
  

Paris Saint Germain

• Paris Saint Germain go into the game on the back of a 1-0 loss to Rennes. A Bruno Cheyrou (formerly of Liverpool) goal just before the break was enough to kill off PSG and put an end to their 13 game unbeaten run. The game has only just ended as I am writing and therefore there is not much information I have to bring at the moment.
• PSG currently lie 6th out of 20, 8 points off the top.
• Injury information: PSG midfielder Stephane Sessegnon misses out after scans revealed a strain to his right thigh. Long-term absentee Loris Arnaud is still recovering from knee surgery.

UEFA Cup

• The top three teams from each group qualify for the knockout stages of the Uefa Cup. Teams which finish top of the group will be drawn against teams which finish third. Teams which finish second will play teams which finish third in their Champions League group.
• UEFA Cup : Group A Table:

		P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	Man City	2	2	0	0	5	2	3	6
2	Schalke 04	3	1	1	1	4	4	0	4
3	Twente Enschede	2	1	0	1	3	3	0	3
4	Racing Santander	3	0	2	1	3	4	-1	2
5	PSG	2	0	1	1	3	5	-2	1

• As you can see, Man City command the table and have automatically qualified having played 2 games and taking maximum points. PSG on the other hand have played 2 games also but are at the bottom of the table. As the UEFA Cup is not a home & away tournament, both teams only have 2 games left to play and therefore with PSG needing to win to have a chance for qualification, this fixture will be vital. City will not want to lie down however because they will get an easier fixture in the next round, if they top the group.
• PSG Previous UEFA Cup result: 2-2 draw Racing Santander (Home)
• Man City Previous UEFA Cup result: 2-0 win Schalke 04 (Away)

My View:

• In my opinion it will be a close game. Paul le Guen (PSG Manager) seems to be more focused on the ligue 1 (hence their 6th place), and less focused on the UEFA Cup Groups (hence their last place). Evidence that seems to back this up is the fact he left names such as Claude Makelele and Ludovic Giuly on the bench, during the last UEFA Cup game they drew against Racing Santander. Despite this, I think it will be a Paris Saint Germain win on Wednesday tonight. Manchester City have already qualified and therefore we will probably not see many big names. On the other hand PSG need to win to have a chance of qualification and therefore I think lack of motivation from City(despite the fact they will want to top the group) and desperation from PSG will gain the victory for the away side.

Match Information:

• Referee: Bruno Miguel Duarte Paixao (POR)
  Assistant Referees: José Cardinal (POR), Venâncio Manuel Raposo Batista Tomé (POR)
• Stadium: City of Manchester Stadium
• Kick off: 1945 GMT