Haaland Starts as Foden Returns to Man City Bench for PSG Clash
Phil Foden is fit and available again but starts on the bench as Manchester City host Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League tonight.
Enzo Maresca has kept faith with a side close to the team that won at Liverpool on Sunday, with Erling Haaland leading the attack. City have no injury absences for the European tie.
Quick facts
- Manchester City face PSG at home in the Champions League tonight.
- Foden returns after a three-match domestic suspension but is among the substitutes.
- Haaland starts up front, with Rayan Cherki supporting him.
- Gianluigi Donnarumma keeps his place in goal.
- PSG start Ousmane Dembele, Desire Doue and Maghnes Akliouche in their front three.
Foden had been banned for three domestic matches following his straight red card in last month’s Manchester derby. His return gives Maresca another attacking option, although Antoine Semenyo and Jeremy Doku are selected from the start on the wings.
Cherki plays centrally behind Haaland, while Enzo Fernandez and Elliot Anderson form the midfield base. Ruben Dias partners Marc Guehi at centre-back, with Abdukodir Khusanov and Josko Gvardiol at full-back.
The game is City’s first at home since an independent commission ruled that the club had committed serious breaches of Premier League financial rules between the 2009/10 and 2017/18 seasons.
City deny wrongdoing over the charges and have submitted an appeal against the decision. Maresca faced repeated questions about the case before the PSG match, but his squad arrives without fitness concerns despite the congested schedule.
PSG line up in a 4-3-3, with Marquinhos and Willian Pacho in central defence and Achraf Hakimi and Nuno Mendes either side of them. Warren Zaire-Emery, Vitinha and Fabian Ruiz make up the visitors’ midfield.
Manchester City: Donnarumma; Khusanov, Dias, Guehi, Gvardiol; Fernandez, Anderson; Semenyo, Cherki, Doku; Haaland.
PSG: Safonov; Hakimi, Marquinhos, Pacho, Mendes; Zaire-Emery, Vitinha, Ruiz; Akliouche, Dembele, Doue.
