Manchester United vs Paris Saint-Germain
Manchester United striker Edinson Cavani will meet some old friends on Wednesday when Paris St Germain are the visitors for a crucial Champions League clash.
The Red Devils are currently in control of Group H but they have PSG and then RB Leipzig to play, while both their rivals have a winnable game against Istanbul Basaksehir in the diary. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side is on a winning run of four matches, three in the Premier League which have lifted them up to the eighth place.
Thomas Tuchel’s PSG tops Ligue 1 but has been in patchy form of late, but with the star quality of Neymar and Kylian Mbappe in their ranks, they will start the game as slight favourites.
Talking Points
Cavani gives Manchester United a genuine attacking threat
Solskjaer is starting to find some consistency at Old Trafford. He’s struggled to put together a solid defensive unit and his talented front runners have been firing blanks. But he has found an answer upfront in the shape of legendary Uruguayan striker Edinson Cavani. On Sunday, Cavani came on as a second-half substitute against Southampton, with the Red Devils 2-0 down, and he turned the game in its head.
After Bruno Fernandes had halved the deficit with half an hour to play, Cavani fired a warning shot over the bar, before winning all three points with two brilliant headers.
No-one else in the Manchester United squad would have scored those two goals. Cavani, as a seasoned goal poacher, drifted into the right positions and applied the killer touch which has been missing at Old Trafford.
In seven seasons in Ligue 1 he scored 138 goals in 200 appearances for PSG and he’ll be desperate to meet his old mates at Old Trafford in this crucial tie. Solskjaer must use his prize asset carefully but defeat could spell elimination, and the team which played out the first half against the Saints could struggle against a more dangerous side.
PSG looking for consistency
Thomas Tuchel’s PSG are at odds of 15.00 to win the tournament, fourth favourites at SBOTOP behind the big three of FC Bayern, Manchester City and Liverpool. To be marginally ahead of Barcelona (16.00), Real Madrid (16.30) and Juventus (18.00) is impressive, and having reached the Champions League final last season the Parisians are starting to believe they are ready to conquer Europe.
A 1-0 win over RB Leipzig, thanks to a Neymar goal, has put Tuchel’s team in second place and he will hope for more from his Brazilian maestro on Wednesday. Neymar has been directly involved in 60 goals in 63 Champions League games, 36 goals and 24 assists, since his 2013 debut; and no other players has made more assists in the history of the competition.
He scored in PSG’s 2-2 draw with Bordeaux on Saturday, a game in which the Parisians threw away a lead for the second time in a week. They were 2-0 up against Monaco last week but ended up losing that game 3-2, and that must be a worry for Tuchel. He has the firepower to hurt any team, with Mbappe lining up alongside Neymar, so will be looking at his defence to step up, marshalled by Brazilian centre back Marquinhos.
History
These two teams have met each other four times over the past five years and won two games each. The Red Devils came out on top on the last two occasions, both times against the odds, and most recently 1-2 in October when Marcus Rashford scored a late winner.
PSG will be looking for revenge.
In competitive clashes, the away side has won all three of the previous meetings between United and PSG, but more encouraging for the Red Devils fans is that their team has won each of the last seven games at Old Trafford in European competition, scoring 24 goals and conceding just two.
Betting Tip
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Manchester United vs Paris Saint-Germain | Total Goals 2-3 @ 1.99 |
| December 03, 04:00 (GMT+8) |
At the head of Group H, the Champions League 2020 betting odds back Manchester United to win the group, at odds of 1.60, while PSG are at 2.75.
But for this game, the Red Devils are marginal outsiders at odds of 2.86 with Paris St Germain at 2.40 and the draw at odds of 3.30.
We’ll be back on Tuesday and Wednesday with all the Champions League 2020 highlights and results, and I expect this game to be a hard-fought affair, maybe with one goal in it… and what a story it would be if Cavani scores again.
A SHORT EXPLANATION ON HOW OUR ( ) BETS ARE WORTH: |
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 = €20 (Highly confident) |
= €10 (CONFIDENT) |
= €5 (SOMEWHAT CONFIDENT) |
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Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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