Paris Saint-Germain vs Manchester City - Combined XI | UEFA Champions League 2021-22
All eyes will be on the Parc des Princes on Tuesday as European powerhouses Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City lock horns in the Champions League once again.
The sides played out a pulsating two-legged semi-final encounter last season in April. There, the Sky Blues came out on top in a 4-1 aggregate victory, having won both legs.
Les Parisiens will obviously have revenge on their minds. Especially, after they have bolstered their squad with a spate of new signings, led by none other than Lionel Messi, in a shock transfer from Barcelona.
Now drawn into Group A together, the French and English giants are favorites to advance into the next round. But it's the battle for top spot which makes their duel worth looking forward to.
Pep Guardiola's troops beat RB Leipzig 6-3 at home in the opening game. Meanwhile the Ligue 1 side were held to a disappointing 1-1 draw by Club Brugge, so the pressure's more on them.
Manchester City are into the Champions League final for the first in their history, after beating PSG 4-1 over both legs.
What a performance from Pep Guardiola's men! https://t.co/JbB4smjvpk
Here's another interesting fact - PSG have never beaten Manchester City in four Champions League games, losing in three of them! Can they finally break the jinx tomorrow?
Ahead of the mouth-watering kick-off, let's look at how these teams stack up in an enticing combined XI: (Formation: 4-3-3)
Goalkeeper: Ederson (Manchester City)
It's a tough call to make between Keylor Navas, Gianluigi Donnarumma and Ederson as all three of them rank among the best goalkeepers in the world.
Navas has been PSG's number one choice in goal since arriving from Real Madrid in 2019. He has been performing consistently for them to register 41 clean sheets in just 70 games in all competitions.
Donnarumma, an Italian legend already at 22 after six illustrious years at AC Milan, is only starting out in Paris.
But their Brazilian counterpart from Manchester City still appears a few notches above the rest, and hence gets the spot here in our combined XI.
Described as a commanding and physically-imposing goalkeeper, Ederson is capable of pulling off excellent reflex saves. He is hailed for his outstanding distribution skills too.
Ederson has now kept a total of ๐ญ๐ฌ๐ฌ clean sheets for #ManCity! https://t.co/iEbdbCaBee
He boats a frankly insane record of 100 clean sheets in 200 games for Manchester City - that's an average of one clean sheet every two games! That in itself tells you what a prolific custodian he is.
Against Paris Saint-Germain, probably led by the fearsome attacking trio of Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar, his skills will be put through the wringer.