Chronicle Editor
Premier League leaders Liverpool against defending French champions PSG promises to be an intriguing tie.
PSG looked to be heading out of the competition before a late run of form saw them finish 15th in the league phase.
They lost to Arsenal before defeating Manchester City to set up an all-France knockout phase play-off with Brest which they won 10-0 on aggregate.
PSG have Ousmane Dembele, one of the in-form goalscorers in Europe right now, with six goals in this season’s competition.
Liverpool have not won any of their past five away games against French clubs, since a Champions League victory against Marseille in 2008.
“At this stage of the competition, the quality of opponent is only going to be of a very high standard and in PSG we have drawn a team and a club with real European pedigree,” said Liverpool boss Arne Slot.
“They qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League in style earlier this week with a big win against Brest and they had some really good results in the league phase, defeating Stuttgart, Manchester City, Girona and Salzburg.”
If Liverpool get past Luis Enrique’s side, then they will face Premier League rivals Aston Villa in April as long as they see off defending Belgian champions Club Brugge, who finished 24th in the league phase before defeating Atalanta in the knockout phase play-offs.
However, Club Brugge beat Villa in the league phase, one of only two defeats suffered by Unai Emery’s side.
Arsenal’s opponents PSV Eindhoven are defending Dutch champions, who defeated an under-strength Liverpool side 3-2 in January on their way to finishing 14th in the league phase.
The Gunners have beaten PSV three times in the group stages of the Champions League, with their most recent victory a 4-0 home win last season.
“We know what we are facing,” said boss Mikel Arteta. “We’ve played against them, they’re a really good team. When you are at this stage every team is really good.” BBC.com
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