PSG receive triple Champions League boost as UEFA rules force Newcastle United to remove player from squad
PSG v Newcastle United: Paris Saint-Germain are set for a quadruple boost in the Champions League on Wednesday night.
Newcastle United face Champions League holders Paris Saint-Germain at Parc des Princes in the competition on Wednesday night (8pm kick-off GMT).
A win would almost certainly guarantee a top-eight finish and progress straight through to the last-16 for Newcastle, while anything less would likely see them finish in a seeded knockout round play-off place.
Teams finishing 9th to 24th in the Champions League league phase take part in a two-legged knockout round play-off match for a place in the last-16 of the competition. The round is seeded so that the side finishing 9th faces the side finishing 24th, 10th v 23rd and so on.
The teams ranked 9th to 16th, are ‘seeded’ and will play the second leg of the tie at home.
Newcastle have never reached the knockout stages of the Champions League and return to PSG over two years on from a controversial evening at Parc des Princes.
The Magpies were cruelly denied a famous victory in Paris as PSG were awarded a stoppage-time penalty following a VAR check on handball against Tino Livramento. Kylian Mbappe stepped up and rescued a point for PSG as Newcastle ended up finishing bottom of their Champions League group.
UEFA later confirmed that an error had been made in awarding the penalty, with the incident used as a case study for the implementation of the handball rule in future matches.
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But Livramento won’t have any repeat of that on Wednesday night as he will miss the match due to a hamstring injury. Fabian Schar is also out for an extended period with an ankle injury.
Jacob Murphy and Emil Krafth have also been out with injury but are understood to be nearing returns.
Newcastle welcomed Dan Burn and William Osula back from injury last time out against Aston Villa. Although the duo didn’t get on the pitch, they are expected to travel with the squad to Paris on Tuesday.
The Magpies are sweating on the fitness of Brazilian pair Joelinton and Bruno Guimaraes for the match. Guimaraes missed the Villa game with an ankle injury picked up in Newcastle’s 3-0 Champions League win over PSV Eindhoven last week while Joelinton was forced off against Villa with a groin issue.
Jamaal Lascelles, John Ruddy and Mark Gillespie will miss out having not been included in Newcastle’s Champions League squad. The Magpies also loaned Max Thompson out to Ayr United in the Scottish Championship.
Thompson had been named on the bench for all of Newcastle’s previous seven Champions League matches as third-choice goalkeeper in the absence of Ruddy and Gillespie, but now another young goalkeeper will be drafted into the squad - as per UEFA rules.
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PSG receive multiple boosts
While Newcastle hope to have their captain available on Wednesday, PSG will be boosted by the results of several key players.
That’s according to L’Equipe, who claim Achraf Hakimi is available following the African Cup of Nations with Morocco. The right-back missed PSG’s 1-0 win at Auxerre and has also not featured at club level since November due to an ankle issue.
The report claims Hakimi has a good chance of being involved with Nuno Mendes and Joao Neves also expected to return, while Fabian Ruiz is a doubt.