Brest vs Paris Saint-Germain

Stade de Roudourou is the venue as Brest and Paris Saint-Germain go head-to-head in the first leg of their first-ever Champions League knockout tie.

Brest became the first French side to progress into the Champions League knockouts in their debut campaign to set up the first all-French tie in Europe’s top-tier competition since Lyon and Bordeaux locked horns in 2009/10. However, their continental journey faces a stern test as they need to halt an embarrassing 30-game winless H2H run to reach the round of 16 (D8, L22). That streak includes a 5-2 home defeat earlier this month, meaning they may relish playing this outside their regular home ground. Adding to this sentiment, only reigning holders Real Madrid defeated them at ‘home’ in the league phase (W2, D1). It’s worth noting that Eric Roy’s men have gone from five consecutive home wins in all competitions to back-to-back losses, last failing to win three in a row in October/November. 

In the meantime, Paris Saint-Germain squeezed into the knockout stages with consecutive wins against Manchester City and Stuttgart on the final league-phase matchdays. Both victories saw them score precisely four goals, which was also the case in a 4-1 rout of domestic rivals Monaco at the weekend. That result forms part of an ongoing four-game winning run in all competitions, with three of those four wins seeing PSG score 4+ goals. Luis Enrique’s free-firing squad has gone into overdrive since losing to Bayern Munich in November, piecing together a 16-game unbeaten run in all competitions (W13, D3). Furthermore, they’re on the cusp of winning three successive away games in the Champions League for the first time in nearly four years.