Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) are gearing up for their 12th consecutive appearance in the Champions League Round of 16. Despite being a perennial contender, the team has never managed to win the title, despite the significant resources at their disposal. This is partly due to five eliminations at this stage in the last seven Champions League seasons, interestingly, three of which came against Spanish teams.
This could be a cause for concern ahead of the doubleheader against Real Sociedad, but with only seven defeats in 72 European home matches (46 wins, 19 draws), PSG have reason to be confident in their ability to take the advantage in the first leg.
However, five of those defeats have come in the last 22 matches at the Parc des Princes, even though Paris remain unbeaten on home soil since September in all competitions (11 wins, 2 draws).
Real Sociedad will therefore be looking to become the first team since Nice to leave the Parc with a victory, but the team is not in great form lately. The 1-0 defeat to Osasuna was their fourth consecutive match without scoring (3 draws, 1 defeat), and it has been 294 minutes since the club last found the net. This is a worrying trend ahead of their return to the Champions League Round of 16 for the first time in 20 years.
However, their lack of attacking firepower may not be so significant considering that they topped their Champions League group with only two goals conceded, the lowest total in the competition. In fact, Sociedad returned from all three of their Champions League away trips with a clean sheet, so they have reason to be confident going into this first leg and ahead of the home match in March, which will be their first European encounter with PSG.
Key Battle: Ousmane Dembélé will be relishing the opportunity to face Sociedad. He has won nine of his ten previous individual battles against them in a Barcelona shirt (1 defeat). He has even scored four goals, each time after the break.
Goalkeeper Álex Remiro has kept four clean sheets in the Champions League this season. However, he has the lowest (tied) number of saves (11) among goalkeepers who have played all six group matches.
Hot Stat: PSG have scored exactly one goal in four of their last five Champions League matches.
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