Arsenal and Liverpool will fancy their chance of making the quarter-finals, while Manchester City and Newcastle face tougher routes
The Club World Cup final victory over Paris Saint-Germain last summer was probably Enzo Maresca’s finest hour as Chelsea manager. He devised a gameplan, pinging balls over Nuno Mendes for Cole Palmer to chase, backed up by Malo Gusto, that tore the European champions apart in the first half. Liam Rosenior may try to exploit the same vulnerability, but this is a Chelsea that look weary, their exertions in the US perhaps having left them fatigued.
PSG’s recent form has been indifferent, as proved by the fact they were forced into the playoff round by a defeat by Sporting and a draw against Newcastle in their final two league-phase games, before limping to a 5-4 aggregate win over Monaco. But then they looked unimpressive until this stage last season as well.
Verdict Narrow PSG win.
Liverpool have won only one of five previous meetings with Galatasaray, their league-phase defeat in Istanbul in September part of their miserable autumn. But four of those games were more than 20 years ago and Liverpool, while still nowhere near the level of last season, are a more solid team now than they were five months ago, while Florian Wirtz had begun to find his feet before his injury.
