On Wednesday, two more participants of the Champions League quarterfinals will be revealed. This time the battles will take place at the stadiums in Paris and Porto. The majority of football fans will have their attention focused on the match in the French capital, where Paris Saint-Germain will face Manchester United. In the other clash, Porto will try to avenge last season's semifinalist Roma at home. In neither of the matches have the final points been decided yet, but PSG and Roma have much better chances to advance. Both matches will kick off at 22:00 Lithuanian time.
PSG - Manchester United Having put on a great performance at Old Trafford, Paris Saint-Germain is just a step away from reaching the quarterfinals. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer stated after the match in Manchester that the current difference in the level of the teams was evident. PSG players returned from England with a two-goal advantage. The defeated Manchester United club faces a particularly difficult task - scoring at least two goals and trying to keep their own goal "dry". The Parisian team is in great form - they have won nine out of ten matches and only lost once to Lyon. PSG had some difficulties against Caen in the local league over the weekend, but all attention was already focused on the Champions League match. PSG has scored a total of 14 goals in their last five matches. Their goalkeepers have only conceded twice.
Manchester United, despite recent problems in the team, continues to show great results in England. "The Red Devils" have only suffered one defeat in more than ten matches, and that was in the match against PSG. In other matches, they have won seven times and played two draws. The loss in the Champions League did not affect the Manchester United team - they won three matches and drew without conceding against Liverpool. In those three matches, United scored more than two goals. However, Solskjaer couldn't find much positive ahead of the return leg - "United" traveled to Paris without ten of their main squad players. Players such as Paul Pogba, Jesse Lingard, Nemanja Matic, Alexis Sanchez, and others will miss this match. On the other hand, PSG still has two significant absences - Neymar and Edinson Cavani. However, PSG has not stumbled after the loss of these two players, so Thomas Tuchel should not be concerned about that issue anymore. There are many surprises expected in the starting lineup for Manchester United - only those who are available will play. A lot of variety is foreseen in the defensive line - it is predicted that Diogo Dalot, Scott McTominay, Fred, and Andreas Pereira will form the quartet. Meanwhile, PSG should play with almost an identical lineup as in the match in Manchester.
Porto - Roma This pair promises a lot of intrigue. Roma was considered a slightly stronger favorite from the start, which was confirmed in the first leg, where they dominated most of the match. This time, we expect to see a completely different face of the Porto team, especially since the situation isn't so bad - Roma won the first match 2-1, so the hosts would only need a 1-0 victory in these matches. Both teams are not in the best mood for these matches - Porto lost a crucial match to Benfica in the country's league and lost the leader's position, while Roma lost the city derby with a 0-3 defeat to Lazio.
However, Porto showed good results after the failure in Rome - they won three matches in a row, scored eight goals, and did not concede any. Roma also played well after the Champions League matches but both teams had to swallow a bitter pill in their last matches. In their last ten matches, Porto have won five, drawn twice, and lost three times. Roma had similar results - five wins, two draws, and two losses. The visitors from Rome will definitely miss Cengiz Under and Javier Pastore in these matches. Kostas Manolas and Nicolo Zaniolo have some problems, but it is expected that they will still start from the first minutes. Porto has no problems in terms of the squad - all key team players are ready to take the field. Moussa Marega, who missed the last match against Roma due to injury, should play from the start. Predicted starting lineups: Porto: (4-4-2) Iker Casillas; Eder Militao, Felipe, Pepe, Alex Telles; Jesus Corona, Danilo, Hector Herrera, Yacine Brahimi; Moussa Marega, Cedric Soares. Roma: (4-3-3) Robin Olsen; Aleksandar Kolarov, Kostas Manolas, Federico Fazio, Alessandro Florenzi; Daniele De Rossi, Bryan Cristante, Lorenzo Pellegrini; Nicolo Zaniolo, Edin Dzeko, Stephan El Shaarawy.
