The Champions League returns with a bang Tuesday as the Round of 16 kicks off with a mouthwatering clash between European giants. Paris Saint-Germain host Chelsea (live on FOX Sports 1, FOX Sports Go, 2 p.m. ET) in the first of four games this week. Shakhtar Dontesk face Bayern Munich in the other game of the day (live on FOX Sports 2, FOX Sports Go, 2 p.m. ET).
The Parisians host Chelsea in a knockout round game for the second time in as many seasons. Memorably, PSG downed the Blues 3-1 in the first leg in Paris before collapsing spectacularly in the return leg at Stamford Bridge to allow Chelsea to slip through on away goals. The temperature is already rising ahead of kickoff with PSG manager Laurent Blanc claiming that his counterpart will seek to provoke his players.
"I know Jose Mourinho a bit," said Blanc last week, "And I know he'll raise the temperature on the pitch in this game. So, my players need to be cold, need to be calm and the must not react even when it is hot out there on the turf....we cannot afford any more yellow cards."
But Blanc's words camouflage a PSG side that comes into the game badly wounded. In a wild Saturday fixture against lowly Caen, PSG lost four players to injury, finished the match with just nine men on the field -- and coughed up two goals to draw 2-2. The result puts real pressure on this underwhelming and expensive PSG side in the league as they have now managed to cough up 15 points from winning positions this year. To top it off, PSG have already faced league leaders Lyon twice, meaning they cannot catch them if both sides win out.
Three of the four players PSG lost Saturday -- Yohan Cabaye, Lucas Moura and Serge Aurier -- were unlikely to feature on Tuesday. But with Blaise Matuidi, Marquinhos and Javier Pastore also questionable, the French giants look very thin in key positions against a muscular and dangerous Chelsea side that had the weekend off.
Chelsea are still working on a treble, and have not lost a league match since their wild 5-3 reversal at Tottenham on New Year's Day. But there are signs of fatigue creeping into the Chelsea juggernaut. The reason the Blues had the weekend idle was because wee Bradford City stunned them 4-2 in the FA Cup, in what is considered one of that competitions greatest-ever upsets. Mourinho, while congratulatory to the Bantams, also called the result "a disgrace."
Chelsea has also stuttered in the league over the past few weeks, grinding out wins over Aston Villa and Everton, but not looking particularly comfortable in the process. Chelsea also have a poor record in France, winning just once in six games. They do get a boost with the registration of Juan Cuadrado, who made his debut against Villa, but both John Obi Mikel and Oscar are question marks for the match.
On paper, one would suspect that with power of Cesc Fabregas, Eden Hazard and Diego Costa that Chelsea could be able to collect their first win on French soil since 2004. But PSG aren't pikers, with Edinson Cavani, Ezequiel Lavezzi and the mighty Zlatan Ibrahimovic all able to change the path of a game in a heartbeat. In truth, this is likely to be a tense, tactical game with Chelsea looking to exploit the space David Luiz tends to leave behind him, and PSG looking to pit Ibrahimovic against the aging but still crafty John Terry in the heart of the London defense.
In our other match of the day, Ukrainian powers Shakhtar Donetsk host Bayern Munich seeking their first home win over a Bundesliga side in 35 years. But the backdrop to this game is grim. The fighting that has convulsed the region, with Russian-backed forces occupying much of the nation's east making Shakhtar homeless. This game will not be held in Donetsk, but rather some 600 miles away in Lviv.
When the war began, a number of Shakhtar's players refused to travel back to Donetsk and the Donbass. The team's arena was hit by shelling twice and saw some of its offices occupied by rebel fighters. In some ways, it has been a shock that manager Mircea Lucescu has managed to hang on to the core of his squad, with big-name players such as Luiz Adriano, Fernando and Douglas Costa all being eyed by bigger teams in presumably safer locales.
Another problem is that the Ukrainians haven't played a competitive fixture since the end of the group stage, with the traditional and long winter break in Eastern Europe set to end in a fortnight. Still, with the red-hot Luiz Adriano able to score seemingly at will, and the crafty Darijo Srna pulling the strings, Shakhtar will not be a pushover.
Bayern enter the match on a roll. They rang up eight goals on Hamburg on Saturday, to equal a team Bundesliga record that had stood since 1984. Franck Ribery and Rafinha are also both available for the match, but Philipp Lahm, Thiago Alcantara and Javi Martinez remain out due to long-term injuries.
