Chelsea's participation in these high-quality quarter-finals begins tonight in the French capital. Jose Mourinho's first European outing as manager of Chelsea was against Paris Saint-Germain at Parc des Princes in September 2004. This is the Parisiens' second appearance since then in Europe's elite competition, which Chelsea of course won in 2012.

Only five other clubs from capital cities - Real Madrid, Red Star Belgrade, Steaua Bucharest, Benfica and Ajax - have lifted the European Cup and Laurent Blanc's Qatar-backed crew are widely tipped to join our select group. It is up to Chelsea to make them down and out in Paris and London over the next week.

We meet up again with a couple of old boys: central defender Alex, and Claude Makelele who excelled in that stunning 3-0 victory for the Londoners a decade ago and is now PSG's assistant coach. France also reacquaints itself with the magic of Eden Hazard, twice their Young Player of the Year, twice their Player of the Year over four stellar seasons with Lille.

PSG's current head coach Laurent Blanc was in charge of Bordeaux when our two sides met in the 2008/09 group stage. He will not have fond memories of the game in London - a 4-0 drubbing - but back in France, Blanc having called on his players to match the Blues physically man-for-man, a late equaliser for the hosts brought a 1-1 scoreline.

Mourinho will ensure his side appreciate the importance of an away goal in the first leg tonight and the Parisiens have only managed one clean sheet at home in this competition, a 3-0 win over Benfica. However they have racked up the goals on the road, scoring four or more three times. Next Tuesday could deliver a lively denouement to this tie.


Title challenges often end in a whimper rather than a bang and that was possibly the case at Selhurst Park. Much of the great work the week before against Arsenal was undone in prosaic fashion with fluffed lines and a self-inflicted wound.

The optimists among us can still grapple with the fixtures list, the calculator or even the crystal ball, but our six-week occupation of top spot ended with Liverpool's trouncing of Tottenham, despite Manchester City's draw at the Emirates. So it was that on the first day of the flat season Jose Mourinho admitted the race looked over for his little horse.

With such mighty teams left in the last eight of the UEFA Champions League it would be premature to plan for the final on Saturday 24 May, at Estadio da Luz in Lisbon. Bayern and Atletico hold the marginal advantage from last night's action at Old Trafford and Camp Nou, both matches ending in 1-1 draws.

Progress for PSG would be reaching the semi-finals for the first time since 1994/95. As with Chelsea since 2003 in England, not everyone in France is happy with their sudden rise to prominence courtesy of the Qatar Investment Authority. The club was founded as recently as 12 August 1970, three and a half months after Chelsea won the FA Cup for the first time.

Even some supporters of Les Parisiens find aspects of the new club awkward: Laurent Blanc used to play for hated rivals Olympique Marseille, who have been left reeling by the new power of PSG and Monaco.

However, the Rouge-et-Bleu are favourably handled by their league compared to the English club experience. With the benefit of the Ligue de Football Professional scheduling their matches earlier ahead of Champions League involvement, PSG have had an extra day to rest and prepare for this first leg.

On Friday the Parisiens recorded their second successive 1-0 away league victory to remain top of the Ligue 1 tree. The victory came courtesy of an own goal in a dogged, unspectacular but satisfactory performance, completed by a fine last-minute save by Salvatore Sirigu.

Laurent Blanc was able to rest both of his influential midfielders, Blaise Matuidi and Marco Verratti, as well as full-back Maxwell. Former Blues centre-back Alex was another non-starter.

The cooperation of the LFP could be even more telling in the second leg at the Bridge, which kicks off on Tuesday evening, just 72 hours after Chelsea's home match against Stoke has finished. PSG will have had two days more to recover.

This is surely something the Premier League and partner TV companies must address - virtually every league in Europe tries to help their member clubs progress in Europe. England stands alone in arranging matches that are even later than the traditional 3pm on a Saturday, compromising Champions League preparations.

All the quarter-final ties will be wrapped up next Tuesday and Wednesday, with the semi-final draw taking place in Nyon on Friday 11 April, and those matches scheduled for 22/23 and 29/30 the same month.


- Match preview by chelseafc.com