Stakes high in PSG-Real showdown
It’s master Ronaldo v pretender Neymar
MADRID: With Cristiano Ronaldo on one side and Neymar on the other, tonight’s heavyweight Champions League showdown between Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain sees two of the game’s biggest global superstars collide.
Ronaldo, the current world player of the year, has rediscovered something like his best form just at the right time for Real.
PSG, meanwhile, are placing their hopes in Neymar, the world’s most expensive player and a Ballon d’Or winner of the future, as they chase the European glory that has thus far eluded them.
The Santiago Bernabeu is the stage tonight for Neymar’s return to Spain six months after the heir to Ronaldo’s throne was prized away from Barcelona for €222 million.
“[Neymar and Ronaldo] are both quick, very strong one-on-one, they play quickly and put a lot of intensity into their games,” said PSG winger Angel Di Maria, a Champions League winner alongside Ronaldo at Madrid in 2014. “Ney is smaller, and that’s perhaps his advantage. But they are both capable of turning games.”
Only one of the superstars can advance from the round of 16 games in Madrid and Paris over the next month.
The 26-year-old Neymar is chasing the supreme status already attained by Ronaldo.
“He lives and breathes goals,” Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said of Ronaldo, underscoring the 33-year-old Portuguese forward’s enduring influence on the team. Ronaldo has helped Madrid win three of the last four Champions League titles, with two goals in last season’s final victory over Juventus.
“This tie,” Ronaldo said, “could define the whole season.”
It’s not just a place in the quarter-finals at stake for PSG and Madrid. The losing coach is likely to find himself out of work by the end of the season.
Only two months ago, Zidane lifted the Club World Cup for a second successive year but his job prospects could be dependent on winning a third successive Champions League title.
So much has gone wrong domestically. Madrid languishes in fourth place and 17 points behind Barcelona in La Liga and is out of the Copa del Rey.
In Paris, Unai Emery is still haunted by last season’s failures. He clung to power despite being deposed as French champions and an astonishing collapse at this stage to Barcelona.
But while PSG can bully most teams, they are vulnerable against those playing
with aggression and closing down high up the pitch. That was evident in a loss to Lyon last month when PSG panicked in defence and conceded a stoppagetime goal.
PORTO HOST LIVERPOOL
Five-time European champions Liverpool scored 23 goals in the group stage, but have since lost playmaker Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona.
Shoring up the defence was a priority, though, in the January transfer window and centre back Virgil van Dijk was finally signed from Southampton.
While Liverpool are 18 points behind City in the Premier League, Porto have a two-point lead at the top of the Portuguese standings and are unbeaten in 23 matches in all competitions.