What a difference a month makes! The last time Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain got together, for the first leg of their UEFA Champions League round of 16 tie, it was PSG that was in full blown injury crisis mode. And United was actually slightly favored heading into that match, won by Les Parisiens 2-0, held back on February 12.
Now it’s United who are massive underdogs, and for good reason, as they have a cataclysmic injury crisis to deal with. Interim manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer faces a real selection headache in midweek.
Frenchman Anthony Martial, who missed the weekend win over Southampton, has already been ruled out for United’s crunch clash in his native land. Juan Mata, Nemanja Matic, Jesse Lingard and Ander Herrera all missed the come from behind victory over Saints, and are expected to be absent for this one too.
Additionally, Alexis Sanchez will be out for up to two months, say various media outlets, due to what is thought to be knee ligament damage.
United will also be without the suspended Paul Pogba (red card in the first leg of this tie) and the injured Antonio Valencia and Phil Jones. Got all that?
United has so many players injured for this match, there was absolutely no way we could fit all of their names into the headline.
As for PSG, Neymar and Edinson Cavani missed the first leg due to injury. Here in the second leg, the former will be out again while the latter is available, but may play a limited role.
Paris Saint-Germain vs Manchester United UCL FYIs (PSG Leads 2-0 on Aggregate)
Kickoff: Wednesday, March 6, 8pm, Parc Des Princes
MUFC Starting XI Prediction: go to this link
Google Result Probability: PSG win 64%, Draw 21%, Man United win 15%
Odds to qualify for UCL quarter-finals via Betfair: United 16/1, Paris Saint-Germain 1/200
Team news and notes: go to this link
Prediction: PSG 1, United 0
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.