Paris Saint-Germain hosts Manchester United Tuesday night in a rematch of one of the more memorable moments in recent UCL history. It’s been about 18 months and 600 days now since United won 3-1 at the Parc Des Princes to overturn a 2-0 deficit from the first leg and advance through on aggregate, via the away goals scored tie-breaker.
That night, at least from an emotional stand point, was the high water mark of the Ole Gunnar Solskjaer era. However, today finds United still stuck in the same morass they were then, and have been ever since Sir Alex Ferguson retired and David Gill left.
Paris Saint-Germain vs Manchester United UCL Group Stage FYIs
Kickoff: Tuesday, October 20, 8pm, Parc Des Princes
Team News: go to this link
More team news and notes, press conference video, quotes: coming soon
TV: TNT (US), Stream: fuboTV
Odds, Moneyline via FanDuel: United +450, Paris Saint-Germain -175, Draw +330
Projection via Five Thirty Eight: United win 19%, PSG win 61% win, Draw 20%
They are still a team of extremely wasteful spending, and the signing of former Paris Saint-Germain forward Edinson Cavani shows they still have no real transfer strategy or master plan for reshaping the roster. United are big wages to a 33-year-old that was available since June, and they could have started negotiating with his camp in January.
Yet they barely even got the deal in before the window closed on deadline day. It was a deal done more of desperation than of adherence to any strategy and theme.
Which brings us to the midweek clash, because it’s a matchup of, as the Guardian puts it “two elite clubs too flawed to win, but too rich to fail.”
Couldn’t have said it any better myself.
PSG came very close to realizing their ultimate ambition, winning the Champions League in August, but they fell to Bayern Munich in the final. United have not truly competed for a UCL or Premier League title since the Fergie era. The Guardian writes:
Understandably, fans are frustrated by how much the Glazers have taken out of the club, but of just as much practical significance, at least in the short term, is how badly the available money has been spent. Discerning a consistent strategy is impossible:
from Alexis Sánchez to a focus on young British talent to Edinson Cavani in two years. A net spend of £500m on transfers over five years should guarantee a certain level, yet United’s squad are short of a left-back, a centre-back and a right-sided forward.”
So with all those aformentioned holes in the team, what does Solskjaer do with his lineup in this one? Well, last night saw OGS make a lot of changes in his first team, so expect some more changes to take place again on Tuesday night. It was almost like he did some squad rotation, because the first XI at Newcastle seemed like the line-up he would go with if passion and hustle was prioritized.
That was definitely the “play hard” line-up, while midweek we might see the “talent first” team sheet. Dan James seems to be a favorite in selection, so we’ll go with him here, and summer signing Alex Telles is just not ready, so his supplanting of Luke Shaw, if/when it happens, will have to wait.
Anthony Martial missed out yesterday, due to his serving the first of his three match ban for getting sent off versus Tottenham on October 3. His fresh legs should come back into the side here, especially with Cavani having not made the trip to the French capital.
Paul Pogba was dropped and Donny Van De Beek began the game on bench over the weekend, so we peg both to make a first team appearance here.
Manchester United Starting XI Prediction (4-2-3-1) at Paris Saint-Germain
De Gea; Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire, Shaw; Pogba, Van de Beek; James, Fernandes, Rashford; Martial
Prediction: PSG 1, United 0
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.