We have reached the quarter final stage of the 2019/20 UEFA Champions League campaign. It has been a long road to get here but we have 8 teams remaining who are going to meet in one-off matches in Portugal to decide the Champions of Europe.
The first quarter final to be played is between Paris Saint-Germain and Atalanta. The match will be played behind closed doors at the Estádio da Luz, Lisbon.
📺🔴🔵 #WeAreParis@ChampionsLeague is 🔙 🔥 pic.twitter.com/ayaJPEqON7— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_English) August 10, 2020
📺🔴🔵 #WeAreParis@ChampionsLeague is 🔙 🔥 pic.twitter.com/ayaJPEqON7
Atalanta have exceeded all expectations this season both in the Italian Serie A and the Champions League. They finished third in Serie A, above the likes of Lazio, Roma, and AC Milan to secure Champions League football for next season.
Having been drawn in a Champions League group containing Manchester City, Shakhtar Donetsk and Dinamo Zagreb, it was not going to be an easy task to qualify for the knockout stages.
However, Atlanta finished second in the group but managed to win only 2 of their 6 games. Into the Round of 16 and Atalanta were paired with Valencia, a team who have great experience of playing in the Champions League. Atalanta enjoyed a fantastic 4-1 home victory in the first leg and won the second leg 4-3 in Spain to secure a tremendous 8-4 win on aggregate.
Trends show Atalanta are undefeated in their last 5 Champions League matches, winning 4 of those games. Both teams have scored in 5 of their 7 most recent games in the competition and Atalanta have scored 2 or more goals in each of their last 4 Champions League matches.
Paris Saint-Germain saw their domestic campaign brought to a halt due to COVID-19 and competitive game time has been limited for the French club since March. However, they have recently participated in two domestic cup finals and won both games.
PSG were drawn in Champions League Group A along with Real Madrid, Club Brugge and Galatasaray. There was never any doubt PSG were going to qualify from this group but they did so in style by beating Real Madrid at home and taking a point from the reverse fixture in Spain. Finishing top of the group meant PSG avoided a meeting with Manchester City in the Round of 16 and instead met Borussia Dortmund.
Despite losing the first leg 2-1 In Germany, PSG make no mistake at home, winning the second leg 2-0 to progress to this stage of the competition. PSG have been scoring plenty of goals in the Champions League this season and have netted 2 or more in 5 of their 8 matches.
Team news and Atalanta will be without first choice goalkeeper Pierluigi Gollini meaning Marco Sportiello will start in goal. Josip Ilicic has been struggling for fitness but may make the bench.
PSG will be without Italian midfielder Marco Verratti who is injured plus the suspended Angel Di Maria. Thomas Meunier and Edinson Cavani have both left the club and Kylian Mbappe remains a doubt.
This has all the makings of being a great game of football, with both teams finding the back of the net. However, Atalanta have been dealt a blow with the injury to their goalkeeper and PSG should come through this game to reach the semi-final.