UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE RETURNS!!!
BAYER LEVERKUSEN VS PARIS SAINT GERMAIN PREVIEW
Bayer Leverkusen play host to Paris Saint Germain in the Round of 16 of the Champions League on Tuesday night.
In 2002, with the likes of Dimitar Berbatov, Michael Ballack and Carsten Ramelow among their ranks, Bayer Leverkusen reached the final of the Champions League at Hampden Park, where they were eventually defeated by Real Madrid.
Since then, the German club have never gone beyond the last 16 of the competition, although they have an opportunity to end that 12-year wait with a two-legged contest against Paris Saint-Germain, the first of which will take place at the BayArena on Tuesday night.
Sami Hyypia’s side fought off strong competition from Shakhtar Donetsk to make it through their group but their last Champions League home game was a damaging 5-0 defeat to Manchester United.
The German side have had a dip in form as of late in the league, losing four of their last six games and seemingly squandering any chance of claiming the title in doing so.
Leverkusen can take heart from the fact that they have never been knocked out of a European tournament by a French side, although all three of their successes were recorded in the UEFA Cup.
In terms of personnel, Leverkusen head coach Sami Hyypia will be without midfielder Emre Can because of suspension, while defender Sebastian Boenisch is regarded as a doubt with a back injury.
PSG are going well in Ligue 1 and are currently top of the league. They have striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic in good form with the Swede netting his 19th goal of the campaign in the 3-0 win over Valenciennes at the weekend. Bayer on the other hand lost 2-1 to Schalke on Saturday.
PSG had a relatively easier passage through to the knock out stages of this year’s competition, winning the first three games of their group by an aggregate score line of 12-1 and all but ensuring qualification early on.
A surprise draw with Anderlecht and defeat to Benfica in their last game, perhaps shows that PSG can let arrogance and complacency creep into their game but giving the contrasting form of these two sides, the French champions should make it through to the quarter-finals.
Visiting PSG have been dealt a blow with the news that Uruguayan striker Edinson Cavani will miss the trip with a hamstring injury that he picked up earlier this month. 
Calf and back problems may also keep out Zoumana Camara and Christophe Jallet respectively, but that aside, manager Laurent Blanc has no other absentees.
PSG, who reached the quarter-finals last season before being knocked out by Barcelona, have lost three of their six meetings with clubs from the Bundesliga.
RECENT FORM ;
Leverkusen: LLLWWL
PSG: WWDWDW
POSSIBLE STARTING LINEUPS
Leverkusen: Leno; Hilbert, Boenisch, Spahic, Wollscheid; Rolfes, Bender, Helger; Castro, Kiessling, Son
PSG: Sirigu; Maxwell, Alex, Silva, Van der Wiel; Matuidi, Motta; Pastore, Verratti, Lucas; Ibrahimovic
STATS ;
Bayer Leverkusen’s Champions League record this year: P6 W3 D1 L2 F9 A10
PSG’s Champions League record this year: P6 W4 D1 L1 F16 A5
PSG are undefeated in their last 9 league games
Bayer Leverkusen are 16 points off Bayern Munich in the German Bundesliga
Stefan Kiebling has scored 10 times in the Bundesliga this year
Zlatan Ibrahimovic has scored 8 times in the Champions League this season
KICK-OFF ; Tuesday, 20:45HRS
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