Who wants it more - Al Khelaifi or Perez? PSG or Los Blancos? The 'Cold War' of European football

French L'Equipe described it as a "cold war". Madrid newspapers focus on the clash between Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Jr and persistently push the analogy of Parc de Princes stadium to the forefront - saying that Paris' most beautiful prince could become king when he moves to Real Madrid in July. It is no accident, although it is not clearly mentioned anywhere. But everyone knows that the announced but still unconfirmed departure of Mbappe to Madrid is especially painful for the sheiks of Qatar.

Sheiks want to rule. They want complete domination. And just when they overthrew the European Super League and gained some sympathy from the football public (in cooperation with UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin), Real Madrid came for Mbappe and showed PSG that they still need to 'grow' as an institution of European and world football.

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Because even though PSG won the battle with Barcelona - they took Neymar first, and then Lionel Messi and showed that the French giants are financially untouchable for the Catalans - Los Blancos are a completely different beast. Real are the biggest. The Royal Club, 13-time European champions. Real Madrid gave Sergio Ramos to PSG and turned out to be even smarter because the legendary stopper is finally showing signs of aging. To top it all off - Real Madrid will take the most precious jewel of the Saints and announce that they will wait for the duel of the eighth-finals of the Champions League to pass, and only then announce that Mbappe will arrive at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium during the next transfer window.

Nasser Al Khelaifi is probably furious. On Valentine's Day, the night before the game, the two sides' main men had dinner at a luxury three Michelin stars restaurant in the heart of Paris, overlooking the river Seine and the Louvre, but it is clear to everyone that Al Khelaifi and Florentino Perez if not hate each other then for sure do not trust each other.

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Perez believes that Al Khelaifi overthrew the European Super League project not because it is essential for equality in football, but on the contrary - because he used the situation to force Ceferin to be less strict towards Paris Saint-Germain when it comes to financial fair play.

And although the two analogies have nothing to do with each other, Al Khelaifi and Perez will undoubtedly observe the upcoming 180 minutes of football through the prism of the 'Cold War'. It all has even less to do with the players.

And while we are mentioning the players, it should be said that on the eve of tonight's duel (23.00), there are some serious doubts. The first one certainly is the status of Neymar - the Brazilian has not played since November 28 due to a left ankle injury but he should at least start from the bench. However, an option of him being on the pitch from the first minute appeared yesterday. If he is not ready, which is more probable, Angel Di Maria will play alongside Mbappe and Messi, although he is not as deadly as he used to be.

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Another question is who will stand between the posts. There are no injuries, only a huge dilemma for Mauricio Pochettino: Gianluigi Donnarumma or Keylor Navas? At the moment, the Italian is reportedly closer to being in the starting eleven. Everything else is more or less expected (see the projected lineups at the end of the article), especially because it is known that Idrissa Gueye and Abdou Diallo did not play with PSG for two months, so they will certainly not be in the starting line-up.

Carlo Ancelotti also has his own dilemmas, primarily those concerning Karim Benzema. Against Villarreal, he was replaced by the forgotten Gareth Bale and the Madrid public was surprised by Benzema's appearance at the press conference before the match against the Parisians.

"I'm much better, I'm 100 percent ready in my head. I will always take the risk. If it weren't - I wouldn't be a Real Madrid football player. If I have to force a return - I will force it ", said Benzema, so it seems that he will be on the pitch from the opening whistle.

Everything else is more or less clear, except of course - the outcome of the match. And it is difficult to predict anything here, because Real Madrid sovereignly rule La Liga, the same as PSG are with at French championship, although it seems that this is not even close to what the Parisians can really do.

In the tactical analysis of the match, a reminder that neither Real nor PSG are aggressive teams, that pressing is not their main characteristic, but both prefer to come out with a laid back approach not holding the ball - and then out of nowhere riffle Vinicius out of the cannon or Mbappe out into empty space.

These are not matches for Messi or Neymar nor for Luka Modric or Benzema. Real Madrid and PSG have the technical quality to bring the rhythm of the match down and then surprise the dormant rival with a quick change of pace. In France, they even think that because of Modric and Toni Kroos, the guests from Madrid will have a slight advantage on the pitch, but they also believe that Real Madrid's wingers - Vinicius in particular - can forget that they need to cover the two PSG midfielders defensively whenever they move forward to help Benzema.

Although PSG have better individuals at first glance, no one has scored as many individual goals in the Champions League this season as Real Madrid. As many as 11 of the Spanish club's 14 goals were the result of individual actions. For comparison, Bayern scored only five, out of a total of 22.

But these are all just assumptions, speculations and statistics. When such 'monsters' hit at each other - anything is possible. Also, let's not forget the mentioned businessmen in the highchairs - we can't wait to see who will have the last laugh: Al Khelaifi or Perez?

POTENTIAL STARTING LINE-UPS

Paris Saint-Germain (4-3-3):

Gianluigi Donnarumma

Achraf Hakimi, Presnel Kimpembe, Marquinhos, Nuno Mendes

Marco Veratti, Leandro Paredes, Danilo Pereira

Angel Di Maria, Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe

Real Madrid (4-3-3)

Thibaut Courtois

Dani Carvajal, Eder Militao, David Alaba, Ferlan Mendy

Luka Modric, Toni Kroos, Casemiro|

Marco Asensio, Vinicius Jr, Karim Benzema

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Eight-finals

Tuesday

23:00: (10.5) Sporting (5.80) Man.City (1.32)

23:00: (2.10) PSG (3.50) Real Madrid (3.80)

Wednesday

23:00: (8.00) Salzburg (5.30) Bayern (1.40)

23:00: (3.35) Inter (3.50) Liverpool (2.25)

February 22nd

23:00: (1.37) Chelsea (4.80) Lille (8.50)

23:00: (2.70) Villareal (3.10) Juventus (2.75)

February 23rd

23:00: (3.50) Benfica (3.45) Ajax (2.10)

23:00: (2.55) Atl.Madrid (3.15) Man.Utd. (2.85)