Paris Saint-Germain - Liverpool FC: the preview
Men's football•
We look ahead to Wednesday's UEFA Champions League quarter-final first-leg tie vs. Liverpool.
Damien Mittereau
Out of both domestic cup competitions and the Premier League title hunt, Liverpool have still been a force to be reckoned with in Europe. The Champions League is the only trophy the Reds can win this season, and they have made it a priority. With six wins in the league phase, Arne Slot's men finished in the top three, and defeated Galatasaray 4-1 on aggregate in the last round.
Paris Saint-Germain got here by seeing off a tenacious AS Monaco in the play-off (2-3, 2-2) before turning on the style against Chelsea in the Round of 16. They followed up a 5-2 first-leg win at the Parc des Princes with a 3-0 victory at Stamford Bridge. Ideal preparation to face Liverpool's array of attacking talent.
2 – Paris Saint-Germain (90) and Liverpool FC (85) are the two teams who have had most shots on target in this season's Champions League.
7 – Paris have lost none of their last seven Champions league knockout games (6 wins, 1 draw) and could equal the French record, which stands at 8 for Olympique Lyonnais.
11 – Khvicha Kvaratskhelia has 11 Champions League goal involvements this season (7 goals, 4 assists), the second-highest all-time tally for a Parisian after Ousmane Dembélé had 14 in 2024-2025.
Arne Slot will start Giorgi Mamardashvili in goal with Kvaratskhelia's Georgia teammate standing in for the injured Alisson. The duo of Virgil van Dijk/Ibrahima Konaté will start at centre-back, with the former captaining the side and the France international preferred to Joe Gomez.
At full-back, Jeremie Frimpong is expected to start on the right with the Dutch international's counterpart on the left being Milos Kerkez. The summer arrival from Bournemouth has established himself in the first team at the expense of Andy Robertson.
In midfield, Alexis Mac Allister is the man who makes the team tick, and the FIFA World Cup winner will have Ryan Gravenberch alongside him. The pair will support Dominik Szoboszlai (12 goals, 8 assists in all competitions this season), who has been Liverpool's stand-out performer this season.
The former Parisian Hugo Ekitiké (17 goals, 6 assists) should lead the line with Alexander Isak still not fully fit after injury, even though he is in the travelling squad. Florian Wirtz (6 goals, 9 assists) is likely to start on the left as his form continues to improve, while Mohamed Salah (10 goals, 9 assists) will of course start on the right. Cody Gakpo and Federico Chiesa as well as the promising Rio Ngumoha (17 years old) could all feature from off the bench.