After a tremendous 3-2 victory over Barcelona in their second Champions League Group F fixture - added to the point they picked up against Ajax - Paris St-Germain sit atop their group and in prime position ahead of their trip to Cyprus to face Apoel Nicosia on Tuesday night. Laurent Blanc's side will be wary of being complacent, but will expect to come away with the three points.
"We take them very seriously, we have to play the best team possible"
- Laurent Blanc
PSG manager Blanc spoke about how APOEL are accustomed to playing in Europe and that they will afford them the appropriate respect in the game. "APOEL is accustomed to play European tournaments every year... we take them very seriously," he said. Blanc further went on to say that the Champions League is an inspirational tournament, suggesting that it stirs the emotions more than any other competition: "In the Champions League when you hear the music, it provides incomparable emotions." For that reason, Blanc insists he must take risks with players returning to fitness: "I'll have to take risks. It's the Champions League, there are only six games, we must win so have to play the best team possible."
For APOEL, manager Giorgos Donis and his players remain optimistic after a reasonable start to their Group F efforts. In their opening fixture, they were only narrowly edged out 1-0 by Barcelona - courtesy of a Gerard Pique costless-kick midway through the first half of the game. It was a very respectable result against a side that is one of the bests in Europe. Following up from that against Ajax, they earned a fantastic point.
The Dutch side opened the scoring in the 28th minute through Danish forward Lucas Andersen, only for APOEL's Brazilian midfielder Gustavo Manduca to level from the penalty spot three minutes later, giving APOEL their first points of the season. For many critics and football fans alike, the idea of the Cypriot side making it out of a group containing Barcelona, Ajax and PSG seems ludicrous, but their fans still hope against hope - and stranger things have happened.
For the away side, Blanc will be without Marquinhos through injury, while Thiago Silva and David Luiz were at first believed to be doubts. Silva, however, has travelled with the squad and should come into the starting XI. Blanc's injury worries continue, however, with both Ezequiel Lavezzi and superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic are both sidelined.
APOEL boss Donis is sweating on the fitness of a number of players ahead of the visit of PSG. He will be without Efstathios Alonefits, Anastasios Papazoglu and Tasos Kissas through injury, but although the likes of Nuno Morais, Vinicius and Gustavo Manduca will be assessed closer to kick off, they should be fit to feature for their side.