UEFA.com works better on other browsers
For the best possible experience, we recommend using Chrome, Firefox or Microsoft Edge.

Paris travel to Malmö with last 16 in sight

While Malmö know they need all three points to keep alive their hopes, visitors Paris Saint-Germain will go into the knockout rounds with another victory as Zlatan Ibrahimović returns home.

Paris' Zlatan Ibrahimović began his career with Malmö
Paris' Zlatan Ibrahimović began his career with Malmö ©AFP/Getty Images

Paris Saint-Germain need one more win to guarantee their place in the UEFA Champions League knockout rounds, while only victory will suffice for opponents Malmö FF if they are to keep alive their fading hopes of a place in the last 16.

On matchday one Paris got off to a great start in the first ever fixture between the teams, Ángel Di María scoring inside four minutes. Edinson Cavani added a second-half header for the hosts.

• The fixture takes Zlatan Ibrahimović back to his home-town club; the Swedish international signed for Malmö in 1996, making his senior debut three years later. After 16 goals in 40 league appearances he began his globetrotting tour of Europe's elite, joining AFC Ajax in 2001.

Match background

Malmö
• On matchday four, the Swedish champions became the first side to lose to FC Shakhtar Donetsk in this campaign, going down 4-0 to drop to the bottom of Group A. Both teams have three points, four adrift of Paris.

• On 30 September Malmö continued their second successive UEFA Champions League group stage campaign – they made their debut in 2014/15 – with another 2-0 defeat, this time at home to Real Madrid CF. Three weeks later they gained their first points in a 1-0 home win over Shakhtar.

• The Himmelsblått beat Celtic FC 2-0 at home in the play-off second leg to advance 4-3 on aggregate. They also lost the away leg in the third qualifying round against FC Salzburg but a 3-0 home win took them through 3-2 on aggregate. In the second qualifying round a 1-0 win at FK Žalgiris Vilnius was enough for them to advance after a goalless home leg.

• Malmö, European Cup runners-up in 1979, have finished bottom of their section on both of the two previous occasions they reached a UEFA competition group stage.

• They have won two of their five games against Ligue 1 sides, losing 4-3 on aggregate to RC Lens in the 1977/78 UEFA Cup first round despite a 2-0 home second-leg victory but beating AS Monaco 1-0 overall at the same stage of the following season's European Champion Clubs' Cup.

• In last season's Group A they were defending an unbeaten eight-game home sequence in UEFA competition until matchday four, when they lost 2-0 against Club Atlético de Madrid. They also went down by the same score at home to Juventus and have lost seven of their last eight UEFA Champions League group matches.

Paris
• The French club are unbeaten in their five fixtures against Swedish opponents, recording four wins and a draw.

• The French club continued their eighth group stage campaign with a 3-0 victory at Shakhtar on matchday two.

• Their double-header with Madrid first produced a 0-0 draw in the French capital before they went down 1-0 in Madrid.

• In last season's group stage Laurent Blanc's side experienced all three results on their travels. In the round of 16 a 2-2 draw at Chelsea FC secured an away-goals victory.

• Their run ended against FC Barcelona in the quarter-finals, losing 3-1 at home and 2-0 away.

• After going out in the quarter-finals in each of the past three seasons, Paris are aiming for a second semi-final appearance having reached the last four in 1994/95. Their other last-eight appearance in Europe since reaching the second group stage of the 2000/01 UEFA Champions League also ended in defeat, against FC Dynamo Kyiv in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup.

Coach and player links
• Johan Wiland, Markus Rosenberg, Tobias Sana, Anton Tinnerholm and Oscar Lewicki are Sweden team-mates of Ibrahimović.

• Rosenberg played for the same junior Malmö side as Ibrahimović. A year younger than most of the team, Rosenberg mostly played at right-back in those days.

• Goalkeeping coach Jonnie Fedel was Malmö's regular keeper when Ibrahimović played for the team.

• Lewicki scored twice in Sweden's 4-1 home victory (agg: 4-3) in the UEFA Under-21 European Championship play-off against France for whom Layvin Kurzawa scored. Pa Konate also played for the victorious home side in the Halmstad fixture on 14 October 2014.

• As France coach, Blanc lost 2-0 against Sweden in a UEFA EURO 2012 group fixture in Kyiv. Rosenberg and Wiland were on the bench.

Match facts

Malmö
• Rasmus Bengtsson and Rosenberg are a booking away from a ban.

• Malmö concluded their Allsvenskan campaign on 31 October with a 2-0 loss to newly-crowned champions IFK Norrköping. Åge Hareide's men finished fifth, 12 points off the top.

• Vladimir Rodić and Jo Inge Berget each scored twice as the Sky Blues triumphed 5-0 at third-tier Götene IF on 8 November in the Swedish Cup second round.

• Four days later, in a 70-minute match, Malmö drew 0-0 with Sweden Under-21s. Erdal Rakip and Pa Konate, both U21 internationals, played for Malmö, the latter sustaining a thigh injury.

• Lewicki played all 180 minutes of Sweden's victorious UEFA EURO 2016 play-off against Denmark.

• Nikola Djurdjić is back in full training, having had surgery on his troublesome groin after the matchday four defeat by Shakhtar.

Paris
• David Luiz is suspended. Marco Verratti and Serge Aurier will incur a ban with their next bookings.

• Reserve player Hervin Ongenda, 20, opened the scoring on his first appearance of the campaign on Saturday, helping Paris to a 2-1 triumph at FC Lorient. 

• The matchday four loss to Real Madrid was Paris' first of the campaign. The capital outfit are 27 games unbeaten – 25 wins – in domestic competition since a 3-2 defeat by FC Girondins de Bordeaux on 15 March.

• Ibrahimović became Paris' all-time top scorer with two penalties against Olympique de Marseille on 4 October, taking his tally for the club to 110 goals, one more than Pauleta. He has since added five more.

• Sweden captain Ibrahimović registered three times in the Blågult's UEFA EURO 2016 play-off victory against Denmark.

• Ezequiel Lavezzi opened the scoring as Argentina drew 1-1 with Brazil in FIFA World Cup qualifying on 13 November. David Luiz was sent off.

• Verratti has not played since sustaining a knee injury in Madrid on 3 November.

• Ibrahimović has hired Malmo's main square for a public broadcast of this match.

Selected for you