Thursday, February 26, 2009

PSG v Wolfsburg match preview

After stumbling through the early stages of the UEFA Cup, Paris Saint-Germain travels to Wolfsburg holding a distinct two goal advantage after defeating the German side at Parc des Princes last week.

Wolfsburg is coming off a spectacular victory over Hertha Berlin on the weekend and yet to lose at home. However they will need to overcome a two goal disadvantage and les Rouge et Bleu will unquestionably take a more defensive approach as they look to nullify Wolfsburg's high-scoring duo of Edin Džeko and Zvjezdan Misimović. Equally they home side will need to go forward in the match without the services of Brazilian striker Grafite who is out with a knee injury. Paul Le Guen is without Claude Makélélé for the match ahead of Sundays clash against Nancy and will likely use Larrys Mabiala in his place.

Prior to the match Ceará acknowledged Lique 1 is the club's priority:

"The board and the coaching staff have made it clear that Ligue 1 is our priority. We want to show that we're strong and in the hunt in the league and then after that, we have two other parallel competitions to play in.

"Obviously we want to go as far as we can in all the competitions and that's why we still have to play well on Thursday to qualify for the last-16 of the UEFA Cup. But the number one goal is still the league championship and we want to hold onto this second place."

Should the Parisians advance they will face the winner of Standard de Liège v SC Braga, with the Portuguese side most likely as they hold a three goal advantage.