UEFA Champions League: Manchester United vs Paris Saint-Germain preview

Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain restart their UEFA Champions League campaigns with a direct clash at Old Trafford on Tuesday in the first leg of their last-sixteen tie. The two teams have never met before in a competitive match, even though both have been present very often in Europe's top competition. Manchester United have lost just two of their 26 matches against French teams in European competitions and none of those defeats was at Old Trafford. On the other hand, PSG have won just one of their ten away matches against English teams and just five of nineteen overall. Manchester United will have their unbeaten run under manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer seriously tested in this match, but the Red Devils have done well even against big teams lately as they defeated Tottenham 1-0 in the Premier League and Arsenal 3-1 in the FA Cup. They did suffer a slight setback at the end of January as they barely clinched a 2-2 home draw against Burnley, but they recovered with consecutive wins at Leicester and Fulham in last last two weekends. Marcus Rashford, Ashley Young and Jesse Lingard were all rested last week against Fulham and will return to the starting eleven on Tuesday, but Antonio Valencia and Matteo Darmian are injured. Paris Saint-Germain seem to be losing a bit of steam lately, they have suffered their first Ligue 1 defeat of the season and got knocked out of the French League Cup by Guingamp. However, they still hold a comfortable ten-point lead at the top of the Ligue 1 table, and they also have two games in hand on second-placed Lille. The Champions League looks like the only real challenge for the French giants this season, but they might suffer from the lack of intensity of the domestic matches. Neymar, Edinson Cavani and Thomas Meunier are all injured and won't be able to play in this match. Probable line-ups: Man United: De Gea - Young, Lindelof, Bailly, Shaw - Herrera, Matic, Pogba - Lingard, Rashford, Martial PSG: Buffon - Kehrer, T. Silva, Kimpembe - Verratti, Marquinhos - Alves, Draxler, Di Maria - Mbappe My prediction: Manchester United to win 2-1, the Red Devils are really strong under Solskjaer and they are perfectly capable of beating PSG. Here are the odds for the match at Bet365: Man United win - 2.37 Draw - 3.50 PSG win - 3.10