Tonight is the night. The Parc des Princes will open its doors for an exciting PSG-Manchester City, exciting and on the limit, corresponding to the penultimate stage of the Champions League. The continuation of both teams in the competition is at stake. This is a reunion of Luis Enrique and Pep Guardiola, friends and companions from a thousand matches as players at Barcelona between 1996 and 2001. As coaches, they have met 4 times, 2 wins for each.
Today was an almost dramatic match for the two. The city occupies the 24th place in the Champions League table, it is in the playoff zone, with 8 points, at least 5 away from direct access to the round of 16. PSG has worse yet, 26th, with one point less, even outside of said playoff zone. On the last day, City-Brujas and Stuttgart-PSG.
Guardiola arrived in Paris euphoric: apparently leaving behind its deep crisis, City put itself in the Champions League on Sunday, after beating Ipswich Town, fourth in the Premier League, with a 0-6 scoreline. City are 12 points behind leaders Liverpool, with a game in hand. Now the ‘citizen’ team is risking their lives in the king of clubs tournament, which it won in 2022-23.
On the other hand, the Champions League continues to be unfinished business for a PSG that comfortably leads Ligue 1 (it has 9 points more than Marseille, 2nd), but is in danger of being left in the fight for contest it seeks. so many. There will be pre and post game tonight. If last year Luis Enrique’s team fell in the semifinals after eliminating Barcelona in the quarterfinals, it was a huge blow for PSG to say goodbye to this edition.
This is the third time that, as a coach, Guardiola has visited Paris, which brings him a sign. That in a semi-final that led him to what was his first Champions League final with City, which they lost in 2020-21 against Chelsea (0-1). Pep had to wait for the 2022-23 Champions League to become a European champion as a ‘citizen’ coach (1-0 against Inter). Guardiola’s third Champions League, after 2 wins with Barcelona.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
