All you need to know: Paris - Barcelona
The history, the stakes and the keys to the game - everything you need to know and more about Wednesday's UEFA Champions League Last 16 second leg.
A LITTLE HISTORY...
Paris Saint-Germain are facing Barcelona for the 13th time in European competition with a record of 4 wins, 3 draws and 5 defeats. Barça are the team Paris have faced the most in continental competition ahead of Real Madrid (10 matches), Bayern Munich (9 matches) Juventus (8 matches, including the UEFA Super Cup) and Chelsea (8 matches).
It's actually the 17th game against Barcelona (including friendlies), two more than they've played against Benfica and Real Madrid (15).
It's the club's 34th competitive meeting with a Spanish team (Real Madrid 10 matches, FC Barcelona 12 matches, Deportivo La Coruña 4 matches, FC Sevilla 2 matches, Athletic Bilbao 2 matches, Valencia CF 2 matches and Racing Santander 1 match). The Rouge-et-Bleu's record reads: 13 wins, 8 draws and 12 defeats.
Paris Saint-Germain are going into their 123rd UEFA Champions League game (68 wins, 22 draws, 32 losses), and it's the club's 235th European game with 124 wins, 52 draws and 58 defeats.
Thirteen players have featured for both clubs: Cristobal, Daniel Alves, Frédéric Déhu, Lucas Digne, Richard Dutruel, Ludovic Giuly, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Maxwell, Neymar Jr, Rafinha, Ronaldinho, Juan Pablo Sorin & Thiago Motta. N.B.: Mikel Arteta, Mauro Icardi, Kays Ruiz and Xavi Simons never made a competitive first-team appearance for Barcelona.
THE STAKES...
The capital club has featured in eight Last 16 ties since their return to the UEFA Champions League in 2012/13. Their record: five qualifications, three eliminations
THE KEYS TO THE match...
Paris Saint-Germain rarely fail to find the back of the net in European competition: the Parisians have scored at the Parc des Princes at least once since a 0-0 draw with Madrid, a run of 23 matches.
The Parisian defence has registered three clean sheets in their last three competitive games: Dijon (4-0, Ligue 1), Bordeaux (1-0, Ligue 1) and Brest (3-0, Coupe de France).
With 64 European matches for Paris Saint-Germain, Marco Verratti holds the club record in the category ahead of Marquinhos, who has played 61 UEFA Champions League games.
The Rouge-et-Bleu's Brazilian captain is set to make his 310th competitive appearance for the club, drawing him level with Mustapha Dahleb in eighth place on Paris Saint-Germain's all-time appearances chart. Angel Di Maria could deliver his 100th competitive assist, inching him closer to Safet Susic's club record (103, between 1982 and 1991).
