Paris Saint-Germain vs. RB Leipzig: UEFA Champions League probable line-ups, match stats and LIVE blog!

Latest

Leipzig were denied a third successive league win by unbeaten Freiburg on Saturday, a result that keeps Jesse Marsch's men eighth in the Bundesliga. Still, they are unbeaten in their last four top-flight matches and look to be finding their feet under the American coach, who replaced Julian Nagelsmann in the Red Bull Arena dugout in August. Emil Forsberg was the man on target against Freiburg and the Swede is expected to line up alongside former PSG man Christopher Nkunku behind Yussuf Poulsen in attack, while Adams could return after being rested at the weekend following his transatlantic exertions with the USA during the international break. That means Andre Silva - who scored 28 Bundesliga goals for Eintracht Frankfurt last term - will most likely continue from the bench. Dani Olmo provided a boost by returning to training this week following a thigh injury that has sidelined the 23-year-old for four matches, but the trip to Paris may come too soon for the Spain international to feature.

Mauricio Pochettino's side got back to winning ways on Friday night, coming from behind to beat Angers thanks to goals from Danilo Pereira and Kylian Mbappe. That kept PSG well clear at the top of Ligue 1, with their ninth league win of the season - out of 10 - coming despite the absences of Messi and Neymar. Both are back and rested after international duty with Argentina and Brazil respectively, and will form a potent front-three alongside Mbappe. Former Borussia Dortmund loanee Achraf Hakimi should start on the right side of defence but Julian Draxler, who won the DFB Cup with Schalke in 2005, may not recover from injury in time to feature, while summer signing Sergio Ramos definitely misses out through a calf problem.

Match stats

This is the third consecutive UCL campaign that has put these two teams against each other, meaning Leipzig have only met Zenit St Petersburg (four games) more times than PSG (three games) in the tournament proper of UEFA competitions.

Nkunku came through the PSG youth ranks, before making 78 senior appearances for the club on his way to joining Leipzig in summer 2019.

The Frenchman scored one of his 21 Leipzig goals to date in a 2-1 win in Paris in last season's groups. He has also registered 31 assists in 95 appearances for the Saxony outfit.

Leipzig trio Nordi Mukiele (Laval, Montpellier), Benjamin Henrichs (Monaco) and Mohamed Simakan (Strasbourg) have also played in France.

PSG's Thilo Kehrer (Schalke), Abdou Diallo (Mainz, Dortmund), Draxler (Schalke, Wolfsburg) and Hakimi (Dortmund) are all former Bundesliga players.

Messi is facing Leipzig for the first time. He has scored 17 goals in as many games against five different German teams, but was shut out by Bayern in his previous two.

Probable line-ups

PSG: Donnarumma - Hakimi, Marquinhos (c), Kimpembe, Mendes - Herrera, Verratti, Gueye - Messi, Mbappe, Neymar

Out: Ramos (calf)

Doubtful: Draxler (illness), Kurzawa (illness), Navas (knock)

Coach: Mauricio Pochettino

Leipzig: Gulacsi (c) - Klostermann, Orban, Gvardiol - Mukiele, Haidara, Kampl, Angelino - Nkunku, Forsberg - Poulsen

Out: Brobbey (thigh), Halstenberg (ankle), Saracchi (knee)

Doubtful: Olmo (thigh)

Coach: Jesse Marsch