Frequent foes in the French top flight, Paris Saint-Germain and Brest swap Ligue 1 for the Champions League on Tuesday evening, colliding in the first leg of their playoff tie at the Stade Francis-Le Ble.
Both outfits took home 13 points during the league phase, although PSG's superior goal difference allowed Luis Enrique's side to sneak into the seeded playoff positions in the 36-team table.
Match preview
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As the domestic trophy case at the Parc des Princes expands ever more, PSG are still searching for that elusive first Champions League title, and an indifferent league phase has not exactly fuelled the belief that this year could be their year.
Indeed, Enrique's men only won one of their first five matches of the 2024-25 season - thus leaving themselves at real risk of a chastening early exit from the competition - but the Ligue 1 champions found their groove towards the end with three wins on the spin.
Red Bull Salzburg, Manchester City and Stuttgart all fell to PSG's superiority in the final three league phase matchdays, and the capital titans are now bidding to win four in a row in Europe's premier tournament for the first time in four years, last achieving that feat in February 2021.
After slaying Stuttgart 4-1 in their final league phase showdown, PSG replicated that scoreline at home to Monaco on Friday evening, the perfect celebration to a new contract for head coach Enrique as he spearheads their seemingly unstoppable charge towards a fourth consecutive Ligue 1 title.
Speaking of good things coming in hours, PSG's thrashing of Monaco represented their fourth successive victory in all tournaments and stretched their terrific unbeaten run to 16 matches, although their most recent loss did come in a Champions League away fixture at Bayern Munich.
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As PSG struggled to pull up trees early doors in the Champions League, Eric Roy's Brest emerged as shock contenders for a spot in the coveted top eight, winning three of their first four games in the league phase and holding Bundesliga invincibles Bayer Leverkusen to a draw in the other.
Les Pirates inevitably could not maintain their magnificent European sequence in the second half of the opening stage, though, as Barcelona, Real Madrid and Shakhtar Donetsk all proved too strong, but sinking PSV Eindhoven on matchday five ensured their place in the playoffs.
Not since Nice in the 1956-57 edition - just the second year of the European Cup - had a French side progressed to the knockout rounds in their inaugural campaign, and Brest have warmed up for Tuesday's historic fixture in ideal fashion.
After overseeing a 2-1 Coupe de France success away to Troyes on February 4, Roy masterminded a 2-0 Ligue 1 triumph against Nantes on Friday night, as goals from Ludovic Ajorque and Pierre Lees-Melou ensured that Brest would maintain their top-half ranking in the table.
However, Brest's most recent home fixture came against none other than PSG, who surged to a 5-2 top-flight triumph on February 1 to make it an astonishing 30 games unbeaten against Les Pirates, who have not conquered the champions since January 1985.
Team News
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Prior to the victory over Monaco, PSG announced that Warren Zaire-Emery and fellow teenager Ibrahim Mbaye were both receiving treatment for ankle sprains, and the embryonic duo are therefore likely to miss out against Brest as well.
The French champions otherwise have a clean bill of health for the short trip to the Stade Francis-Le Ble, where January signing Khvicha Kvaratskhelia should make his UCL debut for his new club on the left-hand side.
The Georgia international will operate in support of the prolific Ousmane Dembele, scorer of a hat-trick against Stuttgart before notching another brace in the thrashing of Monaco, his 20th and 21st goals of the season in all tournaments.
Regarding Brest's availability, Bradley Locko (leg) and Karamoko Dembele (muscle) are out of contention for the time being, while midfielder Jonas Martin is also nursing a muscular problem and is unlikely to make the cut.
Roy has no fresh concerns to take into account for the first leg, though, and the PSG defence can expect to be hustled and harried by the hosts' towering frontman Ajorque.
The 30-year-old applied more pressures in the opposition half than any other player in the league phase - an astounding 447 - while 293 in the attacking third was second only to Erling Haaland's 295.
Brest possible starting lineup:
Bizot; Lala, Chardonnet, Coulibaly, Haidara; Camara, Lees-Melou, Magnetti; Faivre, Ajorque, Balde
Paris Saint-Germain possible starting lineup:
Donnarumma; Hakimi, Marquinhos, Pacho, Mendes; Ruiz, Vitinha, Lee; Barcola, Dembele, Kvaratskhelia
We say: Brest 1-3 Paris Saint-Germain
PSG's astonishing head-to-head record against Brest over the past 40 years speaks for itself, and with Dembele unable to stop scoring at this present time, the hosts should not pose too many problems for the French champions.
Whether Les Parisiens can finally go all the way this year remains to be seen, but as was the case just two Saturdays ago, Enrique's men will surely ease past Roy's side with multiple goals to boot.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Ben Knapton
