Everything on Paris-Brest!

A bit of history...

Brest, promoted to Ligue 1 in 2019 and who didn’t play in Paris in 2020 due to the early postponement of the league, will return to the Parc des Princes for the first time in 8 years. Their last match being one full of emotions, with the farewell to David Beckham on 18 May 2013 (3-1 victory for Les Rouge et Bleu).

At the Parc des Princes, Brest have won just one match in 14 league matches.  Les Parisiens are on an unbeaten run of 12 matches (8 victories and 4 draws) since that defeat. 

Paris Saint-Germain, who haven’t been beaten since 26 January 1985 (1-3 in Brest), are on a six-match winning run against Les Bretons and 18 matches without defeat, a record that makes it into the top five in Paris Saint-Germain history.

24 players have worn the shirt for both clubs: Claude Barrabé, Daniel Bernard, Jean-Pierre Bosser, Bernard Bureau, Gilles Cardinet, Joël Cloarec, Patrick Colleter, Franck Dja Djedje, Louis Floch, David Ginola, Vincent Guérin, Lionel Justier, Ahmed Kantari, Bernard Lama, Paul Le Guen, Yvon Leroux, Claude Makélélé, Tripy Makonda, Bernard Mendy, Granddi Ngoyi, William N'Jo Léa, Bernard Pardo and Jocelyn Rico. Gaétan Charbonnier, who spent time at Paris Saint-Germain during the 2008-2009 season without playing for the first team, and Sébastien Cibois, the former academy goalkeeper don't feature on the list.

It's worth noting that five players who played for Brest brought delight to Paris Saint-Germain faces in the 1990s: Bernard Lama, Patrick Colleter, Paul Le Guen, Vincent Guérin and David Ginola.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is Paris Saint-Germain's top scorer against Brest, with six goals scored. Behind him sit Dominique Rocheteau (4 goals) and Safet Susic (3 goals).

The Swedish striker is the only Parisian to have scored a hat-trick against Les Brestois, in the 5-2 victory in the Round of 64 of the Coupe de France on 8 January 2014.

The STakes...

Paris Saint-Germain will be looking to bring the first half of the league season to a close with a victory, to celebrate Mauricio Pochettino's first outing on the Paris bench at the Parc des Princes. The former captain's last match for Les Rouge et Bleu dates back to 20 May 2003 against Rennes in the league (0-0).

Les Parisiens will also want to pick up all three points in their first match of the calendar year at the Parc des Princes, with two incredible memories in mind, with the victories over Dijon (8-0, 17/01/2018) and Guingamp (9-0, 19/01/2019) before the spectacular draw with Monaco last season (3-3, 12/01/2020).

The keys to the match...

Paris Saint-Germain will be looking to their new prolific goalscorer, Moise Kean: the Italian striker has scored six goals in his last six outings in the league at the Parc des Princes, against Dijon (a brace), Rennes, Bordeaux, Lorient and Strasbourg. With his goal against Saint-Étienne on Wednesday evening, he has now scored three goals in his last four matches for Les Rouge et Bleu in Ligue 1.

Julian Draxler, who played his 150th match for Paris Saint-Germain at Saint-Étienne, could make his 100th Ligue 1 appearance against Brest.