FC Shakhtar Donetsk vs Paris Saint Germain preview - Lucescu wary of powerful PSG

Posted Wednesday, September 30, 2015 by PA

Shakhtar Donetsk coach Mircea Lucescu has described Paris St Germain as a stronger team than Real Madrid as his side prepare to host the Ligue 1 champions in the Champions League on Wednesday.

The Ukrainians are bottom of Group A having lost their opening fixture 4-0 at Madrid on the same night PSG defeated Malmo 2-0.

But for all of the difficulty they experienced at the Bernabeu, Lucescu has warned his players that Laurent Blanc's men pose a greater threat.

"Our opponents are a very powerful team," he said.

"The last four or five years have seen the Paris club progress. They have invested a lot of money and bought talented players - for example, (Marco) Verratti.

"I think that potential and power-wise, PSG are even stronger than Real Madrid. In the previous two seasons, they reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League. I think that this year they will advance to this stage too.

"Edinson (Cavani) is the engine of PSG's attacks. He is the one who scores and plays a key role."

Shakhtar are second in the Ukrainian Premier League, having won seven of their opening nine fixtures, scoring an impressive 22 goals, and Blanc, whose team are undefeated in their domestic league this term with six wins and two draws, has stressed the importance of their defence.

"We'll have to defend well when we don't have the ball," he said. "Shakhtar are a very good team, very technical and have a strong footballing philosophy.

"They will want to dominate possession and so will we. There are all the ingredients for a good match. Perhaps it will be the team that defends better that will win.

"We'll wait until the final training session to see what we'll do about the minor niggles that (defenders) David (Luiz) and Gregory (van der Wiel) are experiencing. We could have some choices to make."