Wednesday’s showdown in Paris between Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain will have the feel of a final considering each side entered the knockouts as two of the three Champions League favorites.
PSG eliminated the other favorite in defending European champion Bayern (which was without Robert Lewandowski). If it can get past City, the French giants would reach a second straight final having completed one of the most impressive gauntlets in Champions League history after already dispatching Barcelona in the round of 16.
But Manchester City will be hungry for its first appearance in the UCL final after getting past Borussia Mönchengladbach and Borussia Dortmund in the knockout stage thus far. The two sides last met in the 2016 UCL quarterfinals that saw City advance to its first semis, as Kevin De Bruyne scored a goal in each of the two legs against PSG.
PSG came out of the gates on a tear with Kylian Mbappé and Neymar giving City a scare in the third minute. The duo ran at an undermanned City defense before Neymar ripped a shot at goal that Ederson dealt with in the end.
Ederson was forced into another save by Neymar in the 13th minute after the PSG star connected on a quick one-two inside the City penalty area.
After knocking on the door for the first 15 minutes, PSG took the lead thanks to a Marquinhos header. The Brazilian, who also scored in the first leg of the quarterfinals against Bayern Munich, met a sharp Angel Di Maria cross with a front post run and flicked the chance back across goal for the 1-0 lead.
João Cancelo gave City its first real look of the match in the 21st minute when he made a troublesome run down the wing. The fullback whipped in a low cross that nearly found Bernardo Silva before PSG keeper Keylor Navas stopped the effort.
Stay tuned here for live updates and highlights of goals and key plays from throughout the match (refresh for most recent updates).
Here are the lineups for both teams:
The winner of this semifinal series will play either Chelsea or Real Madrid in the May 29 final in Istanbul. Chelsea drew Madrid 1-1 in the Spanish capital on Tuesday with U.S. star Christian Pulisic scoring the away goal to give the Blues a slight advantage heading into the second leg.
