Our prediction for this Ligue 1 match:
PSG will be aiming to recover from a heart-breaking loss to Olympique Marseille when they welcome Auxerre to their Parc des Princes in the Ligue 1 round 6. Les Parisiens failed to impress in Le Classique, but they are seen as hot favourites to win Saturday’s game. Golden Ball winner Ousmane Dembele remains on the sidelines with a hamstring injury, with fellow forward Desire Doue missing out as well. Both Bradley Barcola and Joao Neves are major doubts.
Christophe Pelissier’s troops, on the other hand, defeated Toulouse thanks to Danny Namaso’s goal at the weekend, but given their three-game losing run at Parc des Princes, anything but a routine home win would be a big surprise. To make things even worse for the visiting team, defender Fredrik Oppegard misses out through suspension following his sending-off against les Pitchouns. In their last encounter in Paris, PSG defeated Auxerre 3-1.
Highlighted Team (PSG):
Formed by the merger of Paris FC and Stade Saint-Germain in 1970, Paris Saint-Germain or as they call it PSG is the most successful club in French football with 31 domestic titles to their name. Having won six Ligue 1 title so far, a record ten Coupes de France, a record six Coupes de la Ligue, six Trophees des Champions and one Ligue 2 title, PSG are also one of only two French clubs to ever win a European title.
Les Parisiens were crowned UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup champions back in 1995-96, while their last European trophy was the 2001 UEFA Intertoto Cup. Beginning of the new millennium was particularly hard for the celebrated club who flirted with relegation in 2000s before they were bought by the Quatar Sports Investments group in 2011 when the rebirth of the Paris Saint-Germain as we know it today began.
Following heavy squad investments and team boosting, PSG won their first Ligue 1 title in 19 years with Swedish legend Zlatan Ibrahimovic almost singlehandedly leading his side towards the trophy with 30 goals. Having established domestic dominance, PSG now set their sights on winning the Champions League which remains an elusive dream for the club from Paris.