Real Madrid this evening will clash with French giant Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of the Champions League knockout phase. Paris Saint-Germain who came out second in group A will be looking forward to progress to the next round of the competition with a lot of pressure on pochettino's shoulder while the 13-times champions Real Madrid topped group D. Both teams will be looking forward to having an advantage in the first leg with a better goal difference.
With the likes of Argentina Lionel Messi who was signed last summer, youngstar Mbappe and Neymar, PSG will be very confident in progressing to the quarter-finals if they can bypass their opponent. Real Madrid have a bad record against the main opposition as they have lost two of their last three two-legged knockout matches and have been on a poor form recently haven won just only one of their last four matches which came in an unconvincing 1-0 victory against Granada in the league while their last game ended in a 0:0 draw against Villarreal. This run of form will be a big concern for manager Carlo Ancelotti to motivate his team to be back in sensational form which has seen them run away with la liga.
Mean while, PSG will head into this match on the back of their two consecutive wins in the league against Lille and Rennes and have seen them top the league with 13 points lead. Since they became European superpower, the Champions League has become the minimum benchmark for PSG and Pochettino this season. With speculations linking the manager to Manchester United, Pochettino really ensure that this team progress past Real Madrid and failure to achieve that feat will mean a doom for him just like Thomas Tuchel who was sacked for the same reason.
This is going to be a very tough fixture and pundits are predicting the game to end in a 1-1 draw which will be a good advantage for the visiting side when they head back to Spain for the second leg.
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