How everyone thinks Man Utd & PSG will line up

Manchester United host an injury-hit Paris Saint-Germain side in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie on Tuesday.

When the draw for this round was first made back in December, many saw PSG as the big favourites to progress with the French side’s front three of Kylian Mbappe, Neymar and Edinson Cavani running riot and Man Utd severely out of form.

The appointment of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as caretaker manager at Old Trafford has revitalised the Red Devils, however, while Neymar, Cavani and Belgian right-back Thomas Meunier are all set to be ruled out for the Parisians.

That has left Thomas Tuchel with a massive selection headache, as well as having all corners of the press struggling to predict what starting XI he will go with at Old Trafford.

Here at Squawka, we’ve rounded all of these many predictions up into one place for you.

1. Normal service resumed for Solskjaer

With this tie in mind, Solskjaer made a number of changes for the visit to Fulham at the weekend. The likes of Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard and Ashley Young all had to settle for a place on the bench, while Victor Lindelof didn’t even travel.

United ran out comfortable 3-0 winners at Craven Cottage, but PSG will present a much tougher test, so expect Rashford and Lingard to join Martial in attack to form the deadly trident that can destroy teams on the break.

At the other end, even with PSG being without two of their star forwards, Solskjaer is likely to call Lindelof back into the starting line-up, with the Sweden international finally looking like the £30m defender United signed from Benfica in 2017.

Evening Standard’s predicted Man Utd XI: De Gea, Young, Lindelof, Jones, Shaw, Herrera, Matic, Pogba, Lingard, Rashford, Martial

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2. Square pegs in round holes

With Adrien Rabiot’s contract situation leading to his omission from the PSG squad this season and Marco Verratti only just coming back from injury, Tuchel has had a tough enough time trying to find a fluid midfield in Paris so far.

However, for Tuesday’s tie, the German tactician is obviously going to have an even bigger problem, with star forwards Neymar and Cavani missing out through injury.

The Evening Standard reckon Tuchel will stick with the Verratti, Dani Alves and Marquinhos combination in midfield, while he will try to combat the injury crisis up front by deploying Julian Draxler and former United man, Angel Di Maria, either side of Kylian Mbappe. Even with Cavani and Neymar missing, that is some front three for the Parisians.

Evening Standard’s predicted PSG XI: Buffon, Kehrer, Kimpembe, Silva, Bernat, Alves, Di Maria, Marquinhos, Verratti, Draxler, Mbappe

3. Bailly to partner Lindelof as Jones misses out

Lindelof has undoubtedly become Man Utd’s first-choice centre-back under Solskjaer, putting in a number of commanding performances and showing that he may well fulfil that £30m price tag after all.

Next to him, Solskjaer has rotated between England internationals Phil Jones and Chris Smalling, as well as the Ivorian, Eric Bailly.

The Daily Express believes the latter is the ideal man to partner up with Lindelof to deal with considerable threat that is Mbappe, with the former Villarreal man much quicker across the ground than his English counterparts.

The Daily Express’ predicted Man Utd XI vs PSG

Further up the pitch, Paul Pogba will once again supplement the pace and power of Rashford, Martial and Lingard safe in the knowledge that he has the discipline and industry of Ander Herrera and a rejuvenated Nemanja Matic behind him.

4. Parades to start while Buffon misses out

It’s been no secret that PSG have desperately needed reinforcements in the middle of the park, with Rabiot out of the side and set to leave on a free, Verratti struggling with injury and veteran Lassana Diarra missing since November with a knee problem.

Tuchel finally has a solution to that problem in the form of Argentina international, Leandro Paredes.

The 24-year-old is a tough tackling holding midfielder with an excellent passing range over long and short distances, and the Mirror are predicting he will be given his first start for PSG on Tuesday.

A more eyebrow-raising prediction, though, is the omission of Gianluigi Buffon between the sticks, with the Mirror going for Alphonse Areola instead.

Both goalkeepers have been heavily rotated this season, but Buffon put in a Man of the Match performance in PSG’s recent 1-0 win over Bordeaux and his experience at this level could be sorely missed if he is indeed left out.

After all, isn’t that why he was brought to the Parc des Princes in the first place?

The Mirror’s predicted PSG XI: Areola, Alves, Silva, Kimpembe, Bernat, Verratti, Marquinhos, Paredes, Di Maria, Mbappe, Draxler

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