Paris Saint-Germain are set to play the title decider on the sidelines of their Champions League quarter-final match against Liverpool. The French champions were granted a postponement of their Ligue 1 game against Nantes last weekend, giving them seven days of rest between their round of 16 match against Chelsea. Postponements aimed at supporting French clubs’ European tours have become standard practice in recent years, with PSG exiting the Champions League last season.
However, the visit to Reims, who sit one point behind them in the Ligue 1 table, is expected to go ahead as scheduled on Saturday, April 11. Lens manager Peter Sage last week ruled out a postponement, which was expected to be requested by PSG. “The Nantes match was not scheduled, but it was too late because the match was already scheduled,” Sage explained. “I don’t think PSG needs it to compete with us.”
Three days before the match against Reims, PSG will host Liverpool in the first leg. Then, on Wednesday 14th April, Luis Enrique’s team head to Anfield for the second leg.
PSG and Liverpool are set to resume their rivalry after meeting in the Champions League last season. The Parisians defeated Arne Slott’s penalty shoot-out in the round of 16 and went all the way to win the European Cup for the first time in the club’s history.
“Last season we lost completely away against PSG, we played a great game at Anfield but we lost on penalties. To be fair, they haven’t lowered their standards,” Slott told TNT Sports.
“They’ve rarely improved, but they’ve been very impressive so far. Looking at our performance tonight, we couldn’t have been happier with them playing for us. We were the only team last season to take it to extra time and a penalty shootout.”
After PSG defeated Chelsea 8-2 on aggregate, Liverpool faced even greater resistance against Galatasaray. Despite this, the Reds won with a total scoreline of 4-1, and Slott was thrilled.
“Almost every moment was fun,” praised the Liverpool manager.
“I liked the way we played, the way we pressed, the reaction of the fans when Galatasaray were doing exactly what I expected. They were on the floor waving their hands, trying to kill our momentum, but the fans reacted immediately and so did the players.”
