UEFA Championships League: Friends turn foe as PSG host Real Madrid

There will be elbow bumps aplenty when Paris and Real Madrid meet in the French capital. Madridistas in particular will be rubbing their eyes if they are greeted by the sight of four-time Champions League-winner Sergio Ramos among the opposition ranks.

Ramos, a big injury doubt, made a total of 671 appearances for the Merengues.

Ángel Di María – who scored twice for the hosts when the teams met in Paris in the 2019/20 group stage – and Keylor Navas will also be up against their former employers, while Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti, in charge of the Ligue 1 champions from December 2011 to May 2013, also returns to the Parc des Princes dugouts.

And then there's Barcelona's all-time record goalscorer Lionel Messi coming up against his long-time rivals.

The other star will see Liverpool return to San Siro to face Inter Milan

The Reds will be in the unusual position of playing away at the same stadium for the second successive game – albeit against different opponents. 

Jürgen Klopp's charges will know their way around San Siro having won 2-1 against Inter's city rivals AC Milan on Matchday 6 to sign off from the group stage with a 100% record.

The Nerazzurri are back in the last 16 for the first time since 2011/12, but can draw confidence from their impressive home record against English opponents (W11 D3 L2). Indeed they have won their last five, most recently when they beat Tottenham 2-1 in the 2018/19 group stage.

Sporting have made it to the Champions League knockout stage only once, in 2008/09, when they suffered a humbling 12-1 loss to Bayern (0-5 in Lisbon, 7-1 in Munich) – still the heaviest aggregate defeat in the competition. Thirteen years on, those wounds long since salved, they go again.

Manchester City, though, are out of the group stage for the ninth year running and have made it to at least the quarter-finals for the past four seasons. They've even got their own round of 16 special agent in Gabriel Jesus, who has scored on all five of his appearances at this stage of the competition.

The contrast in pedigree at this level is plain to see. Salzburg are the first-time upstarts looking to muscle in on the old guard, but their maiden round of 16 assignment could scarcely be trickier. Bayern have won 13 of their previous 17 ties and have lost only one of the last ten.

The German Bundesliga champions are expert travellers, too, having gone 21 matches unbeaten on the road in Europe. The last time they tasted defeat away from Munich was a 3-0 loss to Paris on Matchday 2 of the 2017/18 campaign. If not already daunting enough, it will not have escaped Matthias Jaissle's attention that Bayern racked up a perfect group stage, too.

Paris vs Real Madrid at a glance

When: Tuesday 15 February (21:00 CET kick-off)

Where: Parc des Princes, Paris

What: UEFA Champions League round of 16 first leg (second leg 9 March)

Who: Group A runners-up Paris vs Group D winners Real Madrid

Possible line-ups

Paris: Donnarumma; Hakimi, Marquinhos, Kimpembe, Nuno Mendes; Verratti, Gueye, Wijnaldum; Messi, Mbappé, Di María

Real Madrid: Courtois; Carvajal, Militão, Alaba, Mendy; Kroos, Casemiro, Modrić, Asensio, Benzema, Vinícius Júnior

Expert predictions

Joseph Walker, Real Madrid reporter

Carlo Ancelotti's side often raise their game for the big occasion and they do not come much bigger than a round of 16 tie with Paris. Despite starting the group stage slowly, they looked like a finely-tuned machine once they got going. However, you sense the return to fitness of Karim Benzema will be key to their game plan of getting a positive result to take back to the Santiago Bernabéu.

Round of 16 opening week

Tuesday 15 February

Sporting CP vs Manchester City

Paris vs Real Madrid

Wednesday 16 February

Salzburg vs Bayern

Inter vs Liverpool

All kick-offs 21:00 CET