Neymar, Mbappe and Foden head outrageous PSG and Man City combined XI
After watching Chelsea and Real Madrid battle to a 1-1 draw in Spain on Tuesday, now it's time for Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City to lock horns in the second Champions League semi-final. Two more European heavyweights, financially speaking, with plenty of star names on display.
Ahead of such an exciting tie, we have worked out a combined XI between the two sides using our unique rating system. This combined XI uses WhoScored ratings from starts (10+) alone across league and European competition this season and excludes those currently injured or suspended.
There are talking points right the way through the side, starting between the sticks. Ederson is the perfect goalkeeper for Pep Guardiola's side due to his ability on the ball. Only his Brazilian team-mate, Alisson, has a better pass success rate of all goalkeepers in the Premier League this season but the 27-year-old misses out in this combined XI to PSG's Keylor Navas.
Navas has proven an inspired signing for the French club and he has really proved his worth in the big games, particularly in this season's Champions League knock-out stage. Navas is averaging 6.5 saves per game in the knock-out stage of the competition, by far the most. The 34-year-old signed a new contract earlier this week and is fully deserving of it.
Moving into defence and it's perhaps no surprise City dominate here. Joao Cancelo and Oleksandr Zinchenko take up the full-back spots, up against little competition from PSG while a resurgent John Stones partners Marquinhos, and not Ruben Dias, at centre-back. Stones has benefitted hugely from having Dias alongside him and is currently averaging a goal every five games in the Premier League. Marquinhos, meanwhile, has proved invaluable to PSG's defence down the years and has grown in stature that bit more since Thiago Silva's departure last summer.
There are more big name absentees in midfield. Ilkay Gundogan misses out despite being City's top scorer in all competitions, while there is also no place for Rodri and Raheem Sterling. City fans used to dread Rodri starting over Fernandinho but the Spaniard has been immense for Guardiola's side this season. Sterling, meanwhile, is currently going through a strange patch and a return of 10 goals across league and Europe is certain down a level or two by his high standards.
Marco Verratti, Kevin De Bruyne, Neymar, Kylian Mbappe, Phil Foden and Riyad Mahrez instead make a very attack-minded front five. It's not particularly balanced, with Verratti the one tasked with holding it together. You can only imagine how many yellow cards he would get, but it is the best rated combination. You of course never need to question Neymar, Mbappe and De Bruyne's inclusion as they are arguably three of the top 5 players left in the competition but it speaks volumes of Foden's development that he also makes the side comfortably. The 20-year-old has already scored more goals this season than any other campaign in his career and is really influencing games in a level not too far off De Bruyne.
The Belgium international has played a direct hand in 22 goals in 29 appearances across league and European competition this season and has returned to fitness just in time to make the first leg. Neymar, meanwhile, has actually scored as many times in the Champions League as he has in the league this term (6) from half as many appearances. Mbappe has 33 goals across both competitions and has already made a joke of Bayern Munich and Barcelona's defence in the Champions League knock-out stage with six goals against them.
