Paris Saint-Germain manager Thomas Tuchel is taking very few chances against Amiens SC on Saturday.
With several players left in Paris to rest ahead of the trip to Germany to face Borussia Dortmund in the UEFA Champions League, including Kylian Mbappé and Neymar Jr., Tuchel was forced to put together a makeshift starting XI.
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The first notable decision is Mauro Icardi and Edinson Cavani up top. The two strikers have been in direct competition all season with the Argentine getting the better of the club’s all-time leading scorer. Both are goal poachers and whoever performs the best could get the nod against Dortmund next week.
On the wings, Julian Draxler and Angel Di Maria will look to create chances for the strikers and for Di Maria, he’ll need to maintain his fantastic form ahead of the knockout phase of the Champions League.
In the midfield is where we see the return of Leandro Paredes to the starting lineup. This is a player who has really elevated his play recently and while I don’t think he will play a major role against Dortmund, he will be instrumental throughout the end of the season in these Ligue 1 matches so that Marco Verratti can be rested.
On defense, Mitchel Bakker gets another start at left-back following his impressive performance against Dijon FCO. Thiago Silva and Tanguy Kouassi start at center-back and surprisingly, Ander Herrera starts at right-back with Thomas Meunier and Colin Dagba out of the squad. Keylor Navas gets the nod in goal.
Marquinhos, Juan Bernat, and Verratti are all on the bench and will no doubt start against Dortmund if healthy. With that in mind, I expect Tuchel to bring them off the bench for a few minutes in the second half.
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