PSG take on the visitors Real Sociedad in the first leg of UEFA Champions League 1/8-finals. The match will be played on Wednesday, February 14th at Parc des Princes (Paris).
PSG are preparing for such matches all the time. The Parisians have grown into a powerhouse with generous Qatari investments that circumvented UEFA's Financial Fair Play restrictions. But the stars like Mbappé, Ramos, Neymar, and Messi weren't brought to the French capital to dominate domestically – they dream of winning the Champions League. However, they've only reached the final once, and last year they were knocked out in the round of 16. After that failure, they parted ways with some aging stars led by Leo. But they retained Kylian and lured Luis Enrique as the coach. However, it almost ended for them in this season's Champions League group stage. They collected 8 points – the same as Milan, whom they exchanged victories with – but advanced on additional metrics. What if it weren't for the scandalous penalty goal in the dying moments against Newcastle at home?
| 2 x £10 Free Bet | Review | |||
| 100$-500$ for No Lose Free Bets | Review | |||
| 100% up to £200 | Review | |||
| Not available | Review |
Real Sociedad fought long and hard to return to the Champions League. Under Imanol Alguacil, they were consistently good, as evidenced by their recent victory in the Spanish Cup – their first trophy in decades. But it was only in the last season that they managed to break into the top four in La Liga – thankfully, Sevilla left that spot. But now Athletic Bilbao and especially Girona are very strong, and the representative of San Sebastián, who often drops points, cannot compete with them. Essentially, in the spring, the Basques will try to hold on to 6th place at home. And they can realize their ambitions in the cup – the first semifinal with Mallorca are already behind them. And, of course, the Spaniards expect maximum effort in the Champions League. Just like they demonstrated in the fall, not losing twice to Inter and winning against them to clinch the top spot in the group. It was unfortunate for them to draw such a strong opponent in the knockout stage after that.
PSG have played in the Champions League for years, while the Spanish side is a tier below. So, they naturally avoided matches against each other. The French often face a deficit of truly challenging matches – there's no competition in their country, and the Champions League group stages often contain 1-2 clear outsiders in each group. Considering Mbappé and company barely made it out of their group, let's bet on the visitors from San Sebastián with a handicap of +1 goal scored.
Prediction for the match: Real Sociedad to win with +1.0 handicap.
