Author: DELEITURAS

Josh Mart takes the opportunity to preview PSG’s tricky trip to the Ukraine to face Shakhtar Donetsk in the UEFA Champions’ League group stage second matchday. PSG cruised to victory against Malmo in the competition opener, winning the match 2-0 at the Parc des Princes. Shakhtar meanwhile, were somewhat humiliated at the hands of the might of Real Madrid, as they lost 4-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu.

This tie, which will be played in Lviv due to the continuing political issues affecting eastern Ukraine, is a key match in the group phase, as a PSG victory would give the Parisians a huge boost towards qualifying for the knockout rounds, especially with a double header against Real Madrid to come. A Shakhtar win would get them back on track with a double header against unfancied Malmo up next.

Shakhtar have been in good form in the Ukrainian Premier League, an undefeated streak since a 2-0 defeat to Dnipro in August has seen the Donetsk side rise to 2nd in the table, behind rivals Dynamo Kiev. Saturday’s 3-2 victory in the Donetsk derby should give the players real confidence ahead of the visit of Paris Saint Germain. Talisman Alex Teixeira notched twice in the game, and the Brazilian has been in superb form for ‘The Miners’ over the last 12 months, and he is one for PSG to watch closely.

PSG have bounced back from the disappointing draw with Reims a few weeks ago with back to back wins in Ligue 1. Firstly, Les Parisiens saw off Guincamp with relative ease at the Parc des Princes in a match that ended 3-0 to the home side. Saturday’s 4-1 victory away to Nantes may sound comfortable enough, but PSG fell behind early on, and didn’t take the lead until the last 15 minutes of the game.

The introduction of Edinson Cavani to proceedings seemed to provide the catalyst for what turned out to be a bit of a rout. With Cavani being left on the bench by Laurent Blanc at the weekend, one would assume he will be recalled for the trip to Lviv.

Team News and Tactics

Shakhtar coach Mircea Lucescu is without combative midfielder Taras Stepanenko for this one, due to the suspension received after his red card in Madrid on matchday one. Shevchuk is also doubtful, but aside from that, Shakhtar have a full complement of players available for this one.

With this in mind, I expect Shakhtar to line up in a 4-2-3-1 formation. Pyatov will start in goals behind a back four which is likely to consist of Srna, Ordets, Rakitskiy and one of Ismaily or Azevedo. With Stepanenko out, Lucescu could call on the services of talented young Ukrainian midfielder Kovalenko to support Fred in central midfield. Marlos and Taison are likely to cut in from the right and left flanks respectively, providing ammunition for star man Alex Teixiera who will play just behind target man Gladkiy in attack.

PSG have a couple injury concerns as Gregory Van der Wiel missed the weekend trip to Nantes with a groin problem and David Luiz is also doubtful for this one. Serge Aurier is available after suspension so Laurent Blanc has a real selection headache at the back.

With this in mind, I expect PSG to lineup in a 4-3-3 formation with Kevin Trapp between the posts. Aurier and Van der Wiel (if fit) could fight it out for the right back slot whilst Thiago Silva and Marquinhos could well start at centre half. Maxwell’s experience could be chosen over the relative youth of Layvin Kurzawa at left back.

I expect Matuidi and Motta to be recalled to the starting 11 for this crunch tie, and they are likely to join Marco Verratti in the centre of the park. Blanc has so many options that is hard to predict what he will opt for, but I expect a front 3 of Angel Di Maria, Ibrahimovic and Cavani (right to left) to start in Lviv.

Danger Men

Alex Teixieira (Shakhtar)- Alex Teixeira has been a key player for Shakhtar since joining from Vasco da Gama in 2010. His best form however, has been in the last 12 months or so and he is really stepping up for his side now that Douglas Costa has moved on to pastures new. PSG will have to be guarded against the hugely talented Brazilian.

Cavani (PSG)- Cavani has been in brilliant form this campaign for Les Parisiens and he currently sits joint top of the Ligue 1 scoring charts alongside Hatem Ben Arfa. His huge talent, industry and desire to score and yet also work hard for his teammates make him a phenomenal player on his day.

Prediction

This is a really tough game to call as a lot is riding on it for both teams. Trips to Ukraine are notoriously labelled as difficult, even if the match isn’t being played in Donetsk. Shakhtar will be keen to get their first points on the board and will be full of confidence after the weekends derby day success. PSG could probably cope with just getting a point here, providing they beat both Malmo away and Shakhtar at home in the latter stages of the group. I hope that PSG set out to win because playing negatively against a team with such attacking potency could be suicidal.

Prediction: Shakhtar 1-2 PSG

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According to Di Marzio, PSG have offered Argentinian attacking midfielder Ezequiel Lavezzi a contract extension, with his current deal expiring at the end of the this season.

The Italian journalist does not believe that Lavezzi will accept because he apparently wants a change of scenery, possibly in Italy.

His agent Alejandro Mazzoni has been in touch with Juventus, meeting in Vinovo recently, with the parties set to meet again to discuss the situation in the future.

The player’s wage demands are going to be a stumbling block. Inter are interested in the player, AC Milan are monitoring the situation but seem less convinced.

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Pierre Mankowski has revealed his list of France U21s players to face Ireland and Macedonia in upcoming EURO 2017 qualifiers.

Goalkeepers: Mouez Hassen (OGC Nice), Mike Maignan (LOSC Lille), Paul Nardi (AS Monaco)

Defenders: Jordan Amavi (Aston Villa), Presnel Kimpembe (PSG), Aymeric Laporte (Athletic Bilbao), Clement Lenglet (AS Nancy), Kurt Zouma (Chelsea), Benjamin Mendy (Olympique de Marseille), Steven Moreira (Rennes), Benjamin Pavard (LOSC Lille)

Midfielders: Marcus Coco (EA Guingamp), Vincent Koziello (OGC Nice), Adrien Rabiot (PSG), Corentin Tolisso (Lyon), Remi Walter (AS Nancy)

Attackers: Maxwell Cornet (Lyon), Enzo Crivelli (Bordeaux), Sébastien Haller (FC Utrecht), Corentin Jean (ESTAC Troyes), Georges-Kevin Nkoudou (Olympique de Marseille)

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Top meets bottom on Saturday afternoon as unbeaten PSG face winless Troyes at the Parc des Princes. The champions are in imperious form right now, sitting 13 points clear at the top of the table, and head into this match on the back of a 5-0 victory over Malmo in the Champions League. Domestically, they have won each of their last eight league outings.

Troyes, meanwhile, are in real danger of being cut adrift at the bottom of the table, even at this early stage of the season. The visitors are currently nine points from safety, four behind second-from-bottom Toulouse, and have still yet to to taste victory since their promotion to the top flight. Anything less than a comfortable home win in this one will be one of the biggest shocks of the season so far.

R.B.

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In an interview given this evening to RMC, Swansea’s attacking midfielder André Ayew explained why he left Marseille this summer and discussed his transformation into a Premier League player more generally.

How are you feeling at Swansea?

I am a happy man. Things are going well, I like the town a lot, the fans, the club. I am very happy over there. Recently, we could have had better results, but it is ok, I am very happy. At the moment, things are going quite well for me. I hope that it will continue like that and also to bring us more victories because I think that we are not in the place we deserve. We just need to continue to work and to not be worried about playing our game. We are a team that plays and sometimes we pay for that. But when it works, we win points.

What do you think about the level of the Premier League?

It is a very good level. It is something else, a different mentality, a different way of playing. Lots of things have changed compared to France. Football is a universal sport but they have different assets, another type of mentality, which makes it much more intense. There is a lot more rhythm, shots, everybody is trying to attack and score. It is good for the people watching.

Is Swansea a good springboard for you to get to a big English club?

Before I signed for Swansea, I had offers from big clubs. It was a choice that I really thought about. I took my time, weighed up the positives and the negatives, my age, what I want to achieve in football and how I was going to get there. With my family, I took the decision to go to Swansea, somewhere where I had the confidence of the manager and the president at 100%.

I really wanted to take my time to adapt to this league, in a good team. I did not want to go to a team where I would not play, that would not try to create, score goals. Swansea gave me everything that I wanted, in terms of football and financially. Now, I am ambitious and we will see what happens.

Do you always have Marseille at the back of your head?

Yes, I do not even need to say it. Marseille is inside me. I cannot spend one day without looking at the Marseille website or knowing what is happening because it is part of my life. Marseille is me, it is my entire life since I was little. I arrived there when I was very young, I played in all the teams up until the first team and I became an important player. I remember everything, I know everything that is happening there. Yesterday, there was a big game from the players (OM beat St Étienne 2-0), I hope that it will help them find the confidence again that they need.

But it is true that I miss the Marseille fans, the people of Marseille because it is the first time that I leave like this abroad. I hope that I will see them again soon and it remains my family.

Did the departure of Marcelo Bielsa affect your decision to leave Marseille?

Yes and no because my case was not really Bielsa’s case. It was another situation because I was at the end of my contract and with the club we needed to first find a situation to extend. As we did not find one, it became a bit complicated. After that, with all the problems that the club had financially it was difficult to reshape my contract.

It is true that in my head, my aim was not to say immediately that I was going to leave, not at all. Vincent (Labrune) knows that, everyone who was around me during this period knew that. Aside from that, on the other hand, I had this dream of discovering the Premier League.

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Did Marseille President Vincent Labrune make the necessary financial efforts to keep you?

He could not. Because I think if he could have done then he would have. It was even difficult for me to continue on the same salary. We met several times, we discussed it a lot. People cannot tell me otherwise. I had long discussions with Vincent. We tried but even for me to remain on the same salary, it was difficult. You also saw the policy. Whether it was Payet, me or Gignac, we were all replaced by young players, with big potential, who are going to become great players in the future.

But they are not players with experience. Vincent could not, so we did not even talk further than that because it was difficult for him. He wanted me to stay, even though I had the dream of playing in England.

Are your worried about your brother Jordan, who is not playing much at Aston Villa?

No, he is playing, he has started 4 or 5 games. He has scored 2 goals. It is true that his debuts were difficult, a new coaching staff, a new team, a new country. He needed a bit of time but he is really starting to throw himself into it and when I speak with him he seems at ease, at home and it is good because I really think that he has the ability to explode in this league. I hope that one day, if we can, we will play again together in the same club.

Sofiane Boufal has admitted that his interested in joining PSG in an interview with Téléfoot.

Boufal had the following to say:

“Of course PSG is the type of club that you dream about, it is the only French club that could win a European trophy. They have an absolutely magnificent project. It is a club in the top 3, top 4 in Europe. They want to bring in great players but also very promising players and of course it is a project that interests me.”

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According to our colleagues at L’Équipe, Marseille midfielder Abou Diaby’s hotly anticipated return to first team football in the form of the Coupe de France this weekend has been wrecked due to a virus he picked up at the beginning of the week.

The form Arsenal man is said to be physically virtually ready to compete again, but he had a virus which prevented him from coming back to training at the beginning of the week, and will now not feature this weekend for OM.

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According to L’Équipe, Lorient’s left-sided player Raphaël Guerreiro features on a shortlist that includes players that Liverpool are looking to sign this month.

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While the Premier League side have yet to make an offer for the Portuguese international, Lorient have been informed of Liverpool’s interest in the player.

Guerreiro has made his desire to leave the club very clear for quite some time.

Welcome to the Get French Football News Mercato Show, a special programme exclusively airing in January which rounds up the latest French football transfer news during the January window from the world of French football. Nathan Staples is your host.

Tonight’s show focused on Mathieu Debuchy & Henri Saivet, as well as our usual tour of Ligue 1 clubs.

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According to Le Parisien, Ligue 1 high-flyers Angers are considering a loan deal for PSG youngster Jean-Kevin Augustin.

PSG representatives would be interested in sending the player out on loan until the end of the season, but it does not appear that Laurent Blanc prefers that option.

On top of that, the player himself apparently wants to remain with the Ligue 1 champions until the end of the season at least.

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