Published: 2016 February 16 10:25:54 (5070 Views)

Two months have passed since the draw for the Champions League soccer's last 16 was made and much has changed in that time as Paris Saint-Germain prepare to meet Chelsea in one of the headline ties tonight.

The match kicks off at 9:45pm.

When the sides were paired together for the third successive season in December's draw at UEFA's Swiss headquarters, PSG appeared the undisputed favourites.

That was as much down to Chelsea's travails as PSG's almost flawless form, but just three days later Jose Mourinho was sacked and the English Premier League side have since begun a steady recovery under Guus Hiddink.

They remain in the bottom half of the Premier League but they have gone 12 games unbeaten, including a 5-1 thumping of Newcastle United on Saturday as Diego Costa scored his eighth goal in that time.

PSG are not exactly in bad shape, with a 1-0 loss at Real Madrid in the group stage their only defeat in 39 games this season.

They have not lost a domestic match since March last year and had won 16 games in a row before a 0-0 draw with Lille on Saturday, when coach Laurent Blanc decided to rest top scorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic, captain Thiago Silva, Thiago Motta and Maxwell.

However, PSG's build-up to the match has been overshadowed after defender Serge Aurier was suspended for insulting Blanc and many of his team mates in a video posted on social media.

Aurier would have started, as would highly influential midfielder Marco Verratti, who Blanc says is not fit enough having featured sparingly in a wearying run of 12 games in the last six weeks.

Hiddink says he will not take any risks on captain John Terry, who came off injured against Newcastle, while Kurt Zouma is out for the season with a knee injury.-AFP.



- Herald

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