Paris Saint-Germain host Montpellier for their first Ligue 1 home game of the season on Saturday evening.
Les Parisiens haven’t been beaten by French opposition at the Parc des Princes since April 2021, when the current PSG boss Christophe Galtier oversaw a 1-0 victory for Lille which helped the underdog Dogues to an unthinkable title that year.
Here’s the XI Galtier may deploy to extend the club’s unbeaten streak on home soil.
GK: Gianluigi Donnarumma – “Dollarumma” – as embittered Milan fans christened him – ended the previous Ligue 1 campaign with a clean sheet against Montpellier.
CB: Sergio Ramos – 12 months after joining PSG, Ramos may rack up just his tenth Ligue 1 start this weekend.
CB: Marquinhos – After recording the best goalscoring season of his career last term (five Ligue 1 goals) Marquinhos is already off the mark this year.
CB: Presnel Kimpembe – Fittingly for a player guilty of the odd criminal performance, Kimpembe voiced the super-villain Scorpion in the French version of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
RWB: Achraf Hakimi – Galtier has explained that his switch to a back-three is designed to ‘let our talent express itself without restrictions’. Hakimi’s change in role from full-back to wing-back is arguably the most concentrated example of an unshackled talent.
CM: Marco Verratti – One more outing for PSG would make Verratti the second-highest appearance maker in the club’s entire history (a feat less impressive when you consider that the club is just one day older than Alan Shearer).
CM: Vitinha – The Portugal international was the only new face lining for PSG in their season-opener last weekend.
LWB: Nuno Mendes – A fretful young Mendes brought a knife to the door, fearing he was about to be burgled when Sporting CP’s representative first enquired after his services a decade ago. Luis Campos wasn’t greeted with the same hostility when PSG turned Mendes’ loan into a permanent deal this summer.
RW: Lionel Messi – A brace on the opening day to following up his opener in the Trophee des Champions ensured that Messi scored in consecutive appearances for PSG for the first time.
ST: Kylian Mbappe – Ligue 1’s top scorer in each of the past four seasons has the chance to match Jean-Pierre Papin’s record of five on the spin this term.
LW: Neymar – In a run stretching back to March, Neymar has scored 11 goals in his last nine appearances for PSG.
