Paris v Manchester City: reaction and analysis
Friday, March 18, 2016
Article summary
Vanquishers of Chelsea, Paris will return to England in the quarter-finals to play Manchester City, who drew with the capital club in their only previous encounter with French opposition.
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Article body
- First leg: Paris v Manchester City, Wednesday 6 April
- Second leg: Manchester City v Paris, Tuesday 12 April
Facts about the tie
• Paris and Manchester City shared a goalless draw at the City of Manchester Stadium in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup group stage – their only previous meeting. Joe Hart, Pablo Zabaleta and Vincent Kompany were all in the City team.
• Paris knocked out Chelsea in the round of 16, recording 2-1 home and away wins. They drew home (1-1) and away (2-2) against the London club in the 2014/15 round of 16 to progress on away goals and are thus unbeaten in their last four matches against Premier League opposition.
• The French side's overall record against English rivals is P13 W4 D5 L4 F14 A15.
• That encounter with Paris, on 3 December 2008, was City's last, and only, meeting with Ligue 1 opponents.
• Joe Hart was in goal for England when Sweden's Zlatan Ibrahimović scored four times in a 4-2 victory for the Blågult in a November 2012 friendly.
Expert comment
Paris will be glad to have avoided Barcelona, their conquerors at this stage in two of the past three seasons, as they eye a first UEFA Champions League semi-final since 1994/95. City will look closely at how Laurent Blanc's men so impressively accounted for Chelsea in the round of 16 in their attempts to overcome a Paris team on course for a quadruple. With the Ligue 1 title wrapped up in record time, Blanc will rest his big players before each leg – a luxury not available to Manuel Pellegrini as City battle to secure a top-four finish in the Premier League.
Reaction
Laurent Blanc, Paris coach
Fate had Manchester City in store for us. They're obviously a very good club, with a very good team and good manager – but at this point of the competition there are only good teams left. We have a lot of respect for them and we're certainly going to look at the way they play, even though we watch them a lot on television. I think it's going to be a good match-up because Manchester City's philosophy is to play football.
Txiki Begiristain, Manchester City's director of football
My first reaction was: 'wow'! But we'll do our best, we have confidence in our team.