RB Salzburg vs Paris Saint-Germain

Paris Saint-Germain take a must-win trip to the Red Bull Arena to lock horns with out-of-sorts RB Salzburg. 

A second consecutive failure to reach the knockout stages is a distinct possibility for Salzburg as they commence matchday six three points adrift of the qualification spots after only claiming one win across their five Champions League games this term (L4). New manager Pep Lijnders faces heavy scrutiny after overseeing just one win in the last six competitive outings (D2, L3), including a 2-2 home draw against Rapid Vienna at the weekend. That result left them a whopping 13 points off the Austrian Bundesliga title pace, heightening the pressure on Lijnders ahead of PSG’s visit. In addition to losing both Champions League home fixtures by 2+ goals ‘to nil’ this season, the hosts slumped to a humiliating 4-0 defeat to Paris’ fellow Ligue 1 rivals Brest, making it for poor reading.

In the meantime, Paris Saint-Germain slipped to a gut-wrenching 1-1 league draw at Auxerre last weekend despite generating a significant 1.89 xG, making it three consecutive outings without a win, all competitions included (D2, L1). Automatic qualification in the Champions League is already a pipe dream for ‘Les Parisiens’ as they’ve gone winless in four successive league-phase matches (D1, L3) since a narrow 1-0 home triumph against Girona on day one. Demoralized by the club’s longest winless streak at Europe’s top table since 2015, Luis Enrique’s charges head to Austria determined to end a disastrous three-match losing away run in the Champions League ‘to nil.’ The visitors must pay attention to their first-half performance, given that five of the six goals they’ve conceded in this competition in 2024/25 came before halftime.