Whenever Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain get together, it’s a match-up that is about as unique as can be, from an ownership standpoint. City are owned by a holding company that is controlled by the ruling family of the United Arab Emirates. PSG is the same, just sub out the U.A.E. for Qatar. Although it does happen, it is very very rare to find this in sports- a club that is essentially owned/controlled by a national government.
In a way, you can almost call this match Qatar vs the U.A.E. instead of Paris versus Manchester.
UEFA Champions League Matchday 7 of 8
Manchester City at Paris Saint-Germain
Kickoff: Wed. Jan. 22, 8pm, Parc des Princes, Paris, France
Preview Material:ย Team Newsย ย Starting XI Predictions
So here they are, two of the wealthiest clubs in the entire world, competing for European continental glory.
And both of these clubs badly need a result here on Wednesday night, as both sides are very surprisingly at risk of missing out on an automatic qualification slot that would take them into the UCL’s next round.
City are 22nd in Champions League table while Paris Saint-Germain are 25th.
Starting XI Predictions
Paris Saint-Germain
Gianluigi Donnarumma; Achraf Hakimi, CB Marquinhos, Willian Pacho, Nuno Mendes; Joรฃo Neves, Vitinha, Warren Zaรฏre-Emery; Ousmane Dembรฉlรฉ, Bradley Barcola; Goncalo Ramos
Manchester City
Ederson; Matheus Nunes, Manuel Akanji, Rรบben Dias, Josko Gvardiol; Ilkay Gรผndogan, Mateo Kovacic, Phil Foden, Kevin De Bruyne, Jรฉrรฉmy Doku; Erling Haaland
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. Heโs also the author of โTransatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,โ and โNo, I Canโt Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.โ
He currently contributes to USA Todayโs NFL Wires Network, the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America and RG. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.
