Paris Saint-Germain’s preseason tour moves south this weekend as they take on Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea in
Charlotte, North Carolina. Victories over Benfica and Fiorentina set up this clash with the London club with only 13 days until Ligue 1 kicks off.
It was only back in March of this year that these two heavyweight teams did battle in the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League. Thiago Silva’s 114th-minute header leveled the game at 2-2 on the night, 3-3 on aggregate, and the French side advanced on away goals.Charlotte, North Carolina. Victories over Benfica and Fiorentina set up this clash with the London club with only 13 days until Ligue 1 kicks off.
After Chelsea’s 4-2 defeat to the New York Red Bulls on Wednesday, this is only their second preseason game—but Mourinho will expect a reaction.
"We cannot concede four goals in 45 minutes against a top team," exclaimed the Portuguese boss to the official Chelsea website. "We cannot concede four goals in 45 minutes against a team with the young guys from Red Bulls."
This is PSG’s fourth game, and the return of Silva, Marquinhos, Edinson Cavani and David Luiz to training has the Ligue 1 champions close to full strength as they approach the start of the season.
Date: Saturday, July 25
Kick-Off: 11:05 p.m. BST, 6:05 p.m. EDT
TV Listings: Fox Soccer 1 (US), beIN Sports 1 (France)
Live Stream: Fox Soccer 2Go (US)
Elsa/Getty Images
| Paris Saint-Germain | Chelsea |
| Friendly: Wiener SK 0-3 PSG | ICC: New York Red Bulls 4-2 Chelsea |
| ICC: Benfica 2-3 PSG | |
| ICC: PSG 4-2 Fiorentina |
B/R UK
Rich Schultz/Associated Press
| Paris Saint-Germain (4-3-3) | Chelsea (4-2-3-1) |
| GK: Salvatore Sirigu | GK: Asmir Begovic |
| RB: Serge Aurier | RB: Branislav Ivanovic |
| CB: Marquinhos | CB: Kurt Zouma |
| CB: Pernel Kimpembe | CB: Gary Cahill |
| LB: Lucas Digne | LB: Cesar Azpilicueta |
| CM: Adrien Rabiot | CM: Nemanja Matic |
| CM: Blaise Matuidi | CM: Nathaniel Chalobah |
| CM: Benjamin Stambouli | RM: Ramires |
| LW: Lucas Moura | AM: Oscar |
| RW: Jean-Kevin Augustin | LM: Eden Hazard |
| CF: Zlatan Ibrahimovic | ST: Diego Costa |
B/R UK
Players to Watch
DON EMMERT/Getty Images
Stambouli’s move to PSG was only confirmed on Tuesday, but after a brief training session with his new club, he was able to feature in the game against Fiorentina as a substitute.
The midfielder is the ideal replacement for Yohan Cabaye, and as he has already shown in his first appearance, he could be an ideal signing, someone to bring extra drive and determination to Laurent Blanc’s side.
Elsa/Getty Images
Last season, perhaps ahead of schedule, Zouma enjoyed an encouraging start to Chelsea life under Mourinho.
It will be expected that the center back continues to develop and progress with another season under his belt, and it all starts with a strong preseason.
With Zlatan Ibrahimovic likely to start and Jean-Kevin Augustin on fire, it should be a tricky test to the season for the imposing defender.
Zouma will be looking toward winning a place in Didier Deschamps' France squad before next summer’s European Championships, so he would love to get off to an encouraging start.
Key Battle
Salvatore Sirigu vs. Diego Costa
The purchase of Kevin Trapp from Eintracht Frankfurt has put a question mark over the status of Sirigu as Paris Saint-Germain’s No. 1 goalkeeper.
Trapp started against both Benfica and Fiorentina, and Blanc may give the Italian international a start on Saturday.
Although it is hard to blame Trapp for any of the four goals PSG conceded in the last two games, it would be a huge boost for the former Palermo shot-stopper if he could keep out a Chelsea attack featuring Brazilian-born striker Diego Costa.
With 20 goals in his debut Premier League season, the Spanish international will be hopeful to open his goal-scoring account on Saturday.
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