Match of the Week: Paris St Germain v Chelsea

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Two financial strong teams meets in the Champions League, but which one can go on to the next round? The Match of the Week is the first leg between Paris St Germain and Chelsea.


Paris St Germain v Chelsea
Parc de Princes
Champions League Quarter-finals
02-04-2014 @ 19.45 UK








How are the two teams form?

The hosts from Paris are unbeaten in their last 15 Ligue 1 matches, and have only lost one of their matches in Champions League. Their opponents, Chelsea, lost against Crystal Palace in the weekend and have lost their last two away matches, and have lost two of their Champions League matches this season. 

Chelsea won the last meeting between the two sides, back in 2012 when they met in the World Cup for club teams. 

How are the probable lineups?

While Paris Saint Germain are injury free according to Transfermarkt, Chelsea will be without Ashley Cole, Samuel Eto'o and Marco van Ginkel.

Sirigu

van der Wiel - Alex - Thiago - Maxwell

Motta

Matuidi - Verratti

Lucas - Ibrahimovic - Lavezzi
__________________________________________

Torres

Hazard - Oscar - Willian

Matic - Luiz

Azpilicueta - Cahill - Terry - Ivanovic

Cech

What to expect from this match?

It's Zlatan against Hazard when PSG and Chelsea clashes at Parc de Princes, and we are looking to get a treat from the two sides. This is Paris Saint Germains opportunity to show Europe that French football is back in the top, and the side have the squad to cause problems for Chelsea. That said, the Brits have the experience and especially their defence should be able to keep Zlatan away from the goal. However, in the other end of the pitch they look less dangerous with Fernando Torres as the only striker available at the moment. Chelsea have played PSG twice in Europe before this season, and have kept a clean sheet in both matches and they can do it again on Wednesday, but at the same time PSG have scored in 16 successive ChL matches, netting at least twice in 12 of these games. The Chelsea defence will be crucial in the match, and I believe it can end in a 1-1 draw.

What are the odds?

PSG are the favorites according to oddschecker.com, with Boylesport having a 11/10 odds on the French. On the other hand, BETVICTOR has a 31/10 bet on a Chelsea victory while a draw gives 5/2 at bet365.



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EURO 2012 Update - Quarter Finals

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The Quarter Finals has been played and Great Dane Football Blog gives you an update on what happened.













Czech Republic - Portugal 0-1


The first Quarter Final stood between the Czech Republic and Portugal. The Czech's started best and kept Ronaldo out of the match in the first ten minutes. Portugal began to get more and more possesion, but a couple of yellow cards were what we saw from the Portuguese in the first half.

After the break, Portugal took over the match. Early in the second half Ronaldo sent a free kick on the post and shortly after Almeida scored but was offside. The Czech's could thank Petr Cech for still being a part of the match, as he made one incredible save after the other. However, with ten minutes left when Ronaldo headed Portugal in front after a beautiful cross. The Czech's never came back in the match, and Portugal can celebrate a spot in the Semi Finals.

Carlsberg Man of the Match Award: Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal


Germany - Greece 4-2


Germany was favorites before the match, and they proved why. Right from the first whistle, the Germans took possesion and had their first big chance after two minutes. A minute after, Klose scored, but was found offside. While Germany had most of the chances, Greece could only defend and hope for some counter attacks. However, they were never close on coming in front in the first half. Instead, Germany scored the first goal after thirty-eight minutes: Lahm recieved the ball just outside the box and smashed the ball into the far corner.

The second half started as the first. Germany was in possesion, but after ten minutes, Greece suddenly equalized. Salpingidis sent a cross into the box where Samaras came first and scored to 1-1. This startet a German offensive. First Khedira first timed the ball into the net. Three minutes later Klose headed the Germans further in front, before Marco Reus scored to 4-1. In the last minutes of the match, Greece could save some honour when they were awarded a penalty. Here, Dimitris Salpingidis reduced to 4-2, which was also the final result. 


Carlsberg Man of the Match Award: Mesut Özil, Germany


Spain - France 2-0


Donetsk was ready for the match between two of Europes best football nations. France started defensive and kept Spain away from chances in the first quarter of the match. However, after twenty minutes Jordi Alba sent a cross into the box where Xabi Alonso scored a brilliant goal. France did not seem to be able to answer back, and a free kick from Yohan Cabaye was the only real chance.

After the break, France was more attacking than they were in the first half. First Debuchy headed over the goal and later Menez missed a chance. However, the French was not able to equalize. Instead, Xabi Alonso scored his second goal in his match number 100. Pedro was pushed down in the box and awarded a penalty, which Alonso scored on. The final result is, therefore, 2-0 to Spain.


Carlsberg Man of the Match Award: Xabi Alonso, Spain


England - Italy (0-0)(0-0)(4-2)

England and Italy delivered quite a drama in the last quarter final. After just four minutes, De Rossi sent a shot towards the English goal. Unfortunately for Italian midfielder he hit the post. England answered right back, and within the first fifteen minutes, they were close on scoring twice. The match kept a high flow with Italy in most possession of the ball. However, the first half ended in a draw.

Italy started the second half with high pressure on the English goal. Even so, they were not able to score the needed goal. Both England and Italy had their share of chances, but after ninety minutes, the score was still 0-0. That meant extra time for the two teams. The two legs of extra time were equal but still with Italy as the dominating team. Once again, Italy hit the post when Diamanti sent a cross into the box but hit the wood work instead of a player. After 115 minutes, Italy finally scored, but unluckily it was cancelled for offside. After the extra time, the match was still without goals.

Barlotelli started the penalty shootout with a goal, followed by a goal from Gerrard. The second shooter for Italy was Montolivio who totally missed the target, while Rooney smashed England in front. Pirlo scored with a tricky shot before Young sent the ball on the crossbar, making the score equal 2-2. Antonio Nocerino was safe from the spot and scored to 3-2 for Italy.  Ashley Cole was the next kicker for England. The defender’s shot was saved by Buffon, and when Diamanti scored on the next kick, England was sent out of the EURO 2012.



Carlsberg Man of the Match Award: Andrea Pirlo, Italy


Top Scorer list



Rank
Goals

1
3
Mario Gomez, Germany
-
3
Alan Dzagoev, Russia
-
3
Mario Mandžukić, Croatia
-
3
Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal
2
2
Fernando Torres, Spain
-
2
Cesc Fabregas, Spain
-
2
Andriy Shevchenko, Ukraine
-
2
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Sweden
-
2
Michael Krohn-Dehli, Denmark
-
2
Nicklas Bendtner, Denmark
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