Paris Women will welcome Spanish side Real Madrid Femenino to the French capital for Thursday's Women's Champions League contest.
Having lost their opening two group games, Paris are currently rooted to the bottom of the standings, while Real Madrid are only one point better off in third position.
Match preview
Paris are appearing in the group stage for the first time after they negotiated a tricky qualifying campaign, which saw them beat Kryvbas before they eliminated 2007 European Champions Arsenal and last season's runners-up Wolfsburg.
Despite overcoming those tough opponents, the French side have been unable to replicate those performances in the main draw, having lost consecutive games to Hacken and Chelsea.
After falling to a narrow 2-1 defeat against the Swedish side, they were thrashed 4-1 in last month's away meeting with the Women's Super League champions Chelsea.
As a result of those two losses, Paris already have their work cut out if they are to reach the knockout rounds, with four points separating them from the top two.
Although they followed up their defeat to Chelsea with a 1-1 draw against Stade de Reims, Paris will carry some momentum into Thursday's encounter after they cruised to a 4-1 win over Montpellier on Saturday thanks to goals from Gaetane Thiney, Daphne Corboz, Mathilde Bourdieu and Louna Ribadeira.
Real Madrid will travel to France amid a poor run of form that has seen them win just one of their last five matches across all competitons.
That run of fixtures began with a respectable 2-2 draw against Chelsea, before they went on to suffer a disappointing 5-0 defeat to domestic rivals Barcelona.
Matters got worse for Las Blancas when they gave up a slender lead to lose 2-1 to Hacken in their second Champions League group game, leaving them in third place and three points adrift of second-placed Chelsea.
While they managed to bounce back with a commanding 5-2 win over Sporting de Huelva, Real Madrid were quickly brought down to earth in Saturday's 3-1 defeat to Sevilla.
Having conceded at least two goals in each of their last five competitive matches, Alberto Toril's side need to improve in the defensive third if they are to have any chance of making it out of their Champions League group.
- W
- W
- D
- W
- L
- L
- W
- L
- W
- L
- D
- W
- W
- D
- L
- L
- W
- L
Team News
Paris have doubts over the availability of midfielder Kaja Korosec, who missed Saturday's 4-1 league win over Montpellier.
The hosts are expected to line up with a back four made up of Julie Soyer, Celina Ould Hocine, Thea Greboval and Lou Bogaert.
Fresh from scoring her sixth competitive goal of the season, Bourdieu will look to add to her tally when she features up front on Thursday.
As for Real Madrid, they are having to contend with a lengthy injury list that features Rocio Galvez, Sofie Svava, Sandie Toletti and Caroline Weir.
The hosts are also unable to call upon the services of Naomie Feller, Linda Caicedo, Signe Bruun and Carla Camacho.
Having scored three goals in her last two club appearances, Moller is expected to be given the task of leading the Real Madrid line.
Paris Women possible starting lineup:
Nnadozie; Soyer, Hocine, Greboval, Bogaert; Corboz, Le Mouel; Mateo, Thiney, Dufour; Bourdieu
Real Madrid Femenino possible starting lineup:
Misa; Hernandez, Ivana, Kathellen, Carmona; Abelleira, Zornoza; Raso, Oroz, Del Castillo; Moller
We say: Paris Women 2-2 Real Madrid Femenino
Although both sides will be desperate to claim maximum points, with the two sides struggling for consistency, we think that they could harm one another's qualification chances by playing out a draw in Thursday's encounter.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
body check tags ::
Previews by email
