At the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday night, Paris Saint-Germain arrive with Luis Enrique reshaping his side for a 21:00 Champions League meeting with Manchester City, another gathering of clubs accustomed to viewing Europe as their natural stage. The Spanish coach has made eight alterations from the PSG team that beat Le Mans 3-1 in Ligue 1 on Saturday, while Enzo Maresca adjusts a City side fresh from a 3-0 victory at Liverpool.
PSG’s changes bring Marquinhos, Fabián Ruiz, Ousmane Dembélé, Désiré Doué, Vitinha, Nuno Mendes, Warren Zaïre-Emery and Willian Pacho into the starting line-up. Zaïre-Emery is preferred to João Neves in midfield, while Maghnes Akliouche starts ahead of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. Ferran Torres is also among the substitutes.
Safonov begins in goal for the visitors, behind a back four of Achraf Hakimi, Marquinhos, Pacho and Nuno Mendes. Vitinha, Zaïre-Emery and Fabián Ruiz form the midfield, with Akliouche, Doué and Dembélé leading the attack.
City make three switches following their win over Liverpool. Abdukodir Khusanov comes in for Matheus Nunes at right-back, Joko Gvardiol replaces Nico O’Reilly, and Jérémy Doku is selected in place of Iliman Ndiaye. Doku’s place from the first whistle follows his influential display in Sunday’s win.
The teams at the Etihad
Gianluigi Donnarumma starts for City, with Khusanov, Rúben Dias, Marc Guéhi and Gvardiol across the defence. Anderson and Enzo Fernández occupy the central midfield positions, while Antoine Semenyo, Rayan Cherki and Doku support Erling Haaland.
For a Paris side travelling from the French capital after domestic business against Le Mans, the selection points to Luis Enrique’s desire for midfield control and pace across the forward line. City, meanwhile, take into the European night the confidence of a major result at Anfield, with Maresca retaining Haaland as the focal point of an attack remoulded around Doku’s form.
