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Erling Haaland (C) of Borussia Dortmund penetrates in the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 first-leg game against Paris-Saint Germain at Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund, Germany, February 18, 2020. /VCG
If there's one side in the whole of the UEFA Champions League who do themselves no favors, it's Paris Saint-Germain. Since the 2013/14 season, with only two exceptions – 2014/15 against FC Barcelona and 17/18 against Real Madrid – when PSG get knocked out, the team acquit themselves incredibly well in the first leg and then don't just lose in the return game, they crumble in surprising, spectacular fashion.
The stand out is, of course, their Round of 16 tie against FC Barcelona in 2016/17 when they went to the Camp Nou and terrorized their opponents 4-0. Surely the Catalonian giants couldn't score five in the home of the Ligue 1 champions, the Parc des Princes. They couldn't – they scored six instead. It's a collapse never seen before, and unlikely to be seen again for aeons, in league football's biggest tournament. Several other times they've lost in less humbling fashion by simply conceding a goal or two and being eliminated on a draw due to the away goal rule.
Players of Borussia Dortmund express gratitude to fans' support after the game against Borussia Moenchengladbach at Borussia-Park in Moenchengladbach, Germany, March 7, 2020. /VCG
What makes tonight's game against the Bundesliga's Borussia Dortmund special is that there are already so many problems stacked up for them that it's as if fate has moved the continuation of their cold streak from the final whistle to before kick off.
Already 2-1 down and hoping for their home ground of the Parc des Princes in Paris to become a cauldron of energy – both to boost themselves and drown out the energy of Dortmund's incredible travelling "gelbewand" supporters – the news from Monday that the game would have to take place behind closed doors due to the spread of the coronavirus through Europe could not have been worse.
As witnessed in other games that have taken place behind closed doors, i.e. Manchester City vs. CSKA Moscow in Russia on October 21, 2014, though the loss of fans technically doesn't have a direct effect on what happens on the pitch, it creates an eerie atmosphere that puts even the best players off their game. Who will cheer PSG on if they concede early? Who will they look to celebrate with if they score? Even during training, they never encounter that level of silence and seeing a stadium as grand as PSG's which, at maximum, hosts just under 50,000 without a soul in it beyond the dugout, will be bizarre.
Kylian Mbappe of Paris-Saint Germain lies on the ground in great pain in the Coupe de France semifinal game against Olympique Lyonnais at Groupama Stadium in Lyon, France, March 4, 2020. /VCG
To make matters worse for Les Parisiens, it's expected that star player Kylian Mbappe will miss the game. He didn't take part in the team's extended training sessions due to an illness, which has since been confirmed as a sore throat. Though he played for the full duration of the first leg in Germany without any success, he scored a hat-trick against Lyon in the semi-final of the Coup de France so was believed to be back on form.
On the other side of things, Dortmund wunderkind Erling Haaland, who has scored a sensational 12 goals in 10 games since he arrived at the side in the January transfer window, said he was unhappy with his performance in the first leg and looks to improve. Haaland scored both of the goals in the team's victory and has already been hailed as the next big thing in European football, yet, in an interview with France Football, he said he "also made a lot of mistakes during this match."
Erling Haaland (L) of Borussia Dortmund gets the ball in the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 first-leg game against Paris-Saint Germain at Signal Iduna Park, February 18, 2020. /VCG
It's impossible to imagine him playing better than in the previous game, but all things considered, it's likely. Midfielder Julian Brandt is back from an ankle injury, bolstering the midfield through play alongside Eden Hazard's younger brother, Thorgen. This is darkly mirrored in PSG, whose midfielder Marco Verratti will be absent due to a yellow card suspension, hollowing out the side even more.
It's always possible that the combined weight of history and expectation is doing the opposite, and instead applying pressure that will be unleashed during play. PSG manager Thomas Tuchel used to manage Borussia Dortmund, a side that thrived from being the perennial underdogs to big boys Bayern Munich, and so there is potential that, with something to prove, he will force a weakened PSG to shock the world. Possible, but against Lucien Favre's Dortmund side, not likely.
