Paris Saint-Germain coach Laurent Blanc said on Tuesday (Dec 29) that he thinks his side are ready to reach at least the Champions League semi-finals for the first time in more than 20 years.

Speaking ahead of PSG’s friendly clash on Wednesday in Qatar against Italy’s Inter Milan, Blanc said it was right that the pressure was on for PSG to perform in European football’s biggest domestic club competition.

At a joint press conference with Inter coach Roberto Mancini, Blanc said: “A season is judged on every trophy there is to win. In France last year, we had a perfect season but quite rightly, the expectation for a club of our size is to have a big performance in the Champions League.

“To be good in the Champions League, you have to be good in the league. It’s easy to say we need to qualify for the semi-finals, but harder to achieve. “I believe my players are ready to reach that goal this year, however.”

PSG have qualified for the last 16 of the tournament where they will play English champions Chelsea for the third successive season. Chelsea triumphed in 2014 but PSG gained revenge in last season’s competition, before being knocked out by eventual winners Barcelona.

PSG last reached the semi-finals in 1994/95, inspired by the tournament’s top scorer that season, George Weah. They were eventually beaten by AC Milan.

The Parisians have reached the last eight of the tournament in the preceding three seasons.

Blanc added that some players might leave during January but refused to speculate. “I don’t have to answer you on this specific topic as we came here to talk about tomorrow’s game against Inter. We didn’t come here for the market.”

Inter have been linked to PSG winger Ezequiel Lavezzi and the coach of the Italian league leaders Mancini joked that the two sides could talk after the game.

Lavezzi, along with other South American stars who play for PSG, arrived in Doha on Tuesday, two days later than the rest of the side. Mancini added that his team would be taking the friendly seriously.

“Tomorrow we’ll play against Paris Saint-Germain. It is one of the top teams in Europe at the moment but I think that there is one game. Inter-PSG, I think that is a good game.”

The match has caught the imagination of the Qatari public and is a rare sell-out at the 15,000 Jassim Bin Hamad stadium in Doha. The stadium is home to Al Sadd, the team for which former Barcelona legend Xavi Hernandez now plays.

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Arsenal’s title challenge is back on track following a 2-0 victory over Bournemouth on Monday (Dec 28) which sent them to the top of the Premier League and saw goalkeeper Petr Cech set a new clean-sheet record.

Arsenal’s Theo Walcott (L) has an unsuccessful shot as Bournemouth’s goalkeeper Artur Boruc (R) prepares to save during the English Premier League football match at the Emirates Stadium in London. (AFP PHOTO)

Goals from Gabriel and Mesut Ozil, who was again Arsenal’s key performer, were enough for the Gunners to settle a few nerves following a shock 4-0 defeat at Southampton two days earlier.

The victory also marked an important landmark for Cech who kept his 170th clean sheet in the Premier League – most of them in Chelsea colours – to overtake the previous mark set by David James.

With former leaders Leicester due to play fourth-placed Manchester City 24 hours after this fixture, the result leaves Arsenal one point clear at the top of the table – and goes some way to answering criticism that Arsene Wenger’s side were starting to buckle under the pressure of trying to win the title for the first time since 2004.

If you took only history into account then this fixture would be one of the most uneven the Premier League has ever seen – mighty Arsenal, 13-time champions, 12-time FA Cup winners and perennial Champions League participants against a club that was playing in the fourth tier of English football only 12 years ago.

But there’s a lot more to English football than that and there was not a huge chasm between the teams as Arsenal ground out a crucial three points.

Bournemouth, renowned for their attractive style of play, went into the game having not lost since early November, including morale-boosting victories over Chelsea and Manchester United.

Arsenal by contrast had seen their own six-match unbeaten run brutally ended by Southampton in defeat at St Mary’s, a result which almost instantly deflated the euphoria which had been building in north London.

Mercurial

Perhaps that is why the atmosphere at the Emirates was so muted at the start of a match that Wenger’s side simply could not afford to lose. Gabriel’s header from an Ozil corner after 27 minutes, however, soon settled those nerves.

Set-pieces have been Bournemouth’s Achilles heel all season and the Brazilian defender was totally unmarked as he stooped to head home at the far post.

Gabriel, in fact, was one of four players brought into the Arsenal side by Wenger following that miserable evening on the south coast, with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Calum Chambers and Kieran Gibbs also selected in a rare shake-up – and Lauren Koscielny surprisingly left on the bench.

Gabriel justified that faith as he hit the post with another header from another Ozil corner minutes later, the ball bouncing back off the upright onto Per Mertesacker and dropping wide.

Gabriel was also outstanding in defence and the game was effectively over when the mercurial Ozil played a delightful one-two with Olivier Giroud before accepting the Frenchman’s back-heeled pass and sliding the ball home in the 63rd minute.

Arsenal, who missed a string of chances to add to their lead, now face struggling Newcastle at home next weekend before potentially more difficult fixtures against Liverpool, Stoke and Chelsea.

English Premier League results:

Arsenal 2 – Bournemouth 0

Crystal Palace 0- Swansea 0

Everton 3 – Stoke 4

Manchester United 0 – Chelsea 0

Norwich 2 – Aston Villa 0

Watford 1 – Tottenham 2

West Brom 1-  Newcastle 0

West Ham 2 Southampton 1

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Manchester United’s winless run stretched to eight games but they did show encouraging signs in a 0-0 draw against Chelsea at Old Trafford on Monday evening.

Match Summary
Lead by a resurgent Wayne Rooney, Juan Mata and Anthony Martial were both denied by the woodwork as Manchester United made a lively start in front of the expectant crowd.
Chelsea became increasingly dangerous as the game progressed and David de Gea was at his absolute best to deny Pedro and Cesar Azpilicueta in quick succession shortly after the restart.
Nemanja Matic wasted Chelsea’s best chance of the evening by blazing wildly over when left one-on-one with the Manchester United goalkeeper.
Full Report
Polite applause greeted the under-pressure Van Gaal as he made his way to the Manchester United hotseat, and the Dutchman would have been delighted with his side’s energetic start.
Within the first two minutes, Juan Mata collected Rooney’s cute inside pass and saw his quick snapshot from 20 yards cannon back off the woodwork.
Martial then suffered a similar fate 13 minutes later; operating on the left flank, he drove inside and struck the foot of the near post from close range as the deep defensive block of Chelsea continued to live very dangerously.
The young Frenchman embarked on a carbon-copy run soon after, which left referee Martin Atkinson to make his first big decision of the evening as Martial was blocked off in the area by Kurt Zouma. The half-hearted appeals from players and home fans alike were turned away.
Rooney looked particularly eager to prove a point to his critics and unleashed a fierce drive from distance, which had Courtois at full-stretch in the Chelsea goal.
Guus Hiddink’s side, playing without a recognised striker as Diego Costa sat out through suspension, were forced to rely on set-pieces for their sporadic attacks.
John Terry’s header in the fifth minute from a Chelsea corner was tipped over by an alert David de Gea in the visitor’s only clear chance in a largely forgettable first half for the Blues.
Chelsea immediately looked more dangerous after the restart, and Pedro and Azpilicueta looked on in dismay as De Gea produced a wonderful double save to deny both of his Spanish counterparts.
Courtois then upstaged the Manchester United goalkeeper with 55 minutes on the clock as he somehow clawed Ander Herrera’s side-foot shot from five yards away to safety.
Manchester United’s vulnerability made a sudden reappearance just after the hour mark as they were left completely exposed to a Chelsea counter attack. Pedro surged down the right and played Matic through on goal, who subsequently blazed over with just De Gea to beat.
Van Gaal introduced Memphis Depay with 13 minutes to spare, but the goalmouth action dried and left the sides to settle for a point.

Source Foxsports