Istanbul Basaksehir and Paris Saint-Germain will both be looking to get off the mark in the Champions League when the two domestic champions meet at the Basaksehir Fatih Terim Stadium in Wednesday's Group H clash.
The hosts suffered a 2-0 defeat to RB Leipzig in the opening round of fixtures, whereas PSG once again fell victim to Manchester United as they lost 2-1 to the Red Devils on their own turf.
Match preview
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Istanbul Basaksehir are plying their trade in the Champions League proper for the first time in the club's history, but the Turkish Super Lig champions have been handed one of the most difficult groups to traverse in their inaugural season in the group stages.
Group H sees Manchester United, PSG and RB Leipzig all vying for spots in the knockout round, and Istanbul Basaksehir were no match for the latter last week as a quickfire double from Angelino secured a routine victory for the Bundesliga high-flyers against Okan Buruk's men.
However, the Turkish champions have started to turn their fortunes around domestically following a poor start to the season and prepared for the visit of PSG with a 5-1 thrashing of Antalyaspor at the weekend, with stalwart Edin Visca bagging a double for Buruk's men on the day.
While Istanbul Basaksehir undoubtedly deserve immense credit for the progress they have made over the last decade, the Turkish champions are no doubt favourites to finish rock bottom of their daunting group, and PSG have shown no mercy to almost all teams before them as the Ligue 1 champions look to avenge their defeat to United when they make the long journey to the Basaksehir Fatih Terim Stadium.
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PSG welcomed Man United to the French capital looking to avoid a repeat of that fateful night in 2019, where the Red Devils sent Thomas Tuchel's men packing at the last-16 stage courtesy of a controversial Marcus Rashford penalty in the dying embers of the match.
However, lightning struck twice at the Parc des Princes as Rashford once again popped up with the winner in last week's encounter, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's men running out 2-1 winners following a Bruno Fernandes opener and an Anthony Martial own goal before Rashford netted.
PSG already have ground to make up in the fight to reach the knockout stages given the fact that RB Leipzig also triumphed last week, and the Ligue 1 champions will be out for blood against Istanbul Basaksehir as they look to rectify last Tuesday's mistakes.
That being said, Tuchel's men put things right at the weekend as they overcame a struggling Dijon side with ease in the French top flight, with Moise Kean netting twice before being replaced by Kylian Mbappe, who completed the rout with a brace of his own.
After such a dismal start to the campaign, PSG are playing like champions again and will certainly be expected to triumph in their first-ever meeting with Istanbul Basaksehir this week.
Istanbul Basaksehir Champions League form: L
Istanbul Basaksehir form (all competitions): LLDWLW
Paris Saint-Germain Champions League form: L
Paris Saint-Germain form (all competitions): WWWWLW
Team News
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The last thing that Istanbul Basaksehir needed before a showdown with PSG was more injury concerns, but unfortunately for Buruk, the Turkish outfit are heavily depleted for Wednesday's fixture.
The Super Lig champions could be without a recognised right-back following an injury to Ugur Ucar, Junior Caicara out for the season and 18-year-old Muhammed Sarikaya not in Istanbul Basaksehir's Champions League squad.
Former Premier League players Nacer Chadli, Rafael and Martin Skrtel have all suffered with injury problems as of late, with the latter two lasting just 45 minutes against Antalyaspor before being taken off.
PSG have had bad luck of their own on the injury front as Thilo Kehrer and Juan Bernat are still sidelined, while Idrissa Gueye is out with the hamstring problem he sustained against United.
Leandro Paredes, Marco Verratti, Julian Draxler and Mauro Icardi also occupy spots in the medical room, but Angel Di Maria and Layvin Kurzawa are set to return to the fold after missing the win over Dijon through suspension.
Mbappe will almost certainly return to the first XI for this one, with Keylor Navas, Presnel Kimpembe and Alessandro Florenzi also expected to start after being named amongst the substitutes at the weekend.
Istanbul Basaksehir possible starting lineup:
Gunok; Rafael, Ponck, Epureanu, Bolingoli; Visca, Kahveci, Topal, Giuliano; Ba, Crivelli
Paris Saint-Germain possible starting lineup:
Navas; Florenzi, Diallo, Kimpembe, Kurzawa; Marquinhos, Herrera, Rafinha; Di Maria, Mbappe, Neymar
We say: Istanbul Basaksehir 0-3 Paris Saint-Germain
The two sides have turned their fortunes around in the league as they look to defend their respective titles, but there is only one winner in this encounter. Istanbul Basaksehir and PSG are both having to deal with reduced squads at the minute, but given the formidable firepower in the visitors' attacking ranks, Tuchel's men should prevail with minimal difficulty.
Top betting tip
Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting over 2.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Over 2.5:curl
Ben Knapton
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Paris Saint-Germain win with a probability of 48.39%. A win for Istanbul Basaksehir had a probability of 29.63% and a draw had a probability of 22%.
The most likely scoreline for a Paris Saint-Germain win was 1-2 with a probability of 9.1%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-1 (6.32%) and 0-2 (6.13%). The likeliest Istanbul Basaksehir win was 2-1 (6.96%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (9.38%). The actual scoreline of 0-2 was predicted with a 6.1% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Paris Saint-Germain would win this match.
