Sports Mole previews Sunday's Women's Champions League clash between Paris Saint-Germain Women and Barcelona Women, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.

Paris Saint-Germain Women host Barcelona Women on Sunday in the first leg of their Women's Champions League semi-final tie, with the home side hoping to repeat the 2017 semi-finals when they beat Barca 5-1 on aggregate.

As for the visitors, they will be looking to surpass their Champions League finish from last season when they were beaten in the semi-final by Wolfsburg.

Match preview

PSG Women celebrate scoring on March 9, 2021 © Reuters

PSG come into this game fresh from knocking out seven-time Champions League winners Lyon in the quarter-final, a tie in which they tightly won on away goals.

Olivier Echouafni's side lost 1-0 in the first leg against Lyon and then fell 2-0 down on aggregate just four minutes into the second leg, but that did not hinder a comeback from PSG.

Grace Geyoro started her side's resurgence with an effort from a tight angle before a Wendie Renard own goal drew the visitors level on aggregate and PSG saw the game out, eventually winning the tie on away goals.

That result could be argued as potentially the biggest upset in modern Women's Champions League history due to Lyon's dominance in recent years, and has now set up a definite first-time winner with no team in the semi-finals having won the competition before.

Barcelona eased past Gareth Taylor's Manchester City in the quarter-final stage, as a 2-1 victory for the English side was not enough to overturn an emphatic 3-0 lead the Spanish giants secured from the first leg.

Since then, Lluis Cortes's side have played three times in the Primera Division Femenina and recorded a trio of big victories to continue their 100% form in the league this season.

Last time out, Barca hit six against Granadilla Tenerife, and forward Jenni Hermoso scored her 20th and 21st goals of the season as she chases the league's top goalscorer Esther Gonzalez of Levante, who is out in front on 24.

Prior to that game, the Blaugrana netted nine times against bottom side Deportivo La Coruna and scored seven against second-placed Levante, making them unsurprisingly the highest scorers in the league with a massive 125 goals.

The meeting at the Stade Municipal George's Lefevre will be the first between the two sides since the 2017 Champions League semi-final which PSG won at the Parc des Princes in front of a record home attendance of just over 19,000 fans.

Paris Saint-Germain Women Women's Champions League form:

Paris Saint-Germain Women form (all competitions):

Barcelona Women Women's Champions League form:

Barcelona Women form (all competitions):

Team News

Barcelona Women celebrate on March 24, 2021 © Reuters

The home side have no injury or suspension concerns, and Echouafni is expected to name an unchanged starting 11 from the team who surpassed Lyon in the quarter-final.

The PSG squad are growing in Champions League knowhow, this season being the club's eighth year in the competition, and can rely upon 43-year-old Formiga for experience in the middle of the pitch.

Cortes has more selection issues than his opposite number, with striker Asisat Oshoala absent from the travelling Barcelona squad as she recovers from foot surgery, but top Barca goalscorer Hermoso is expected to come into the starting side.

Fellow forward Andrea Falcon will also be missing from the Spanish club's team due to injury and midfielder Patri Guijarro is suspended for the first-leg tie.

Despite the injuries to attacking players, Barcelona have continued good form in front of goal and are sure to test the resolute PSG defence.

Paris Saint-Germain Women possible starting lineup:
Endler; Morroni, Dudek, Paredes, Lawrence; Dabritz, Formiga, Geyoro; Baltimore, Katoto, Diani

Barcelona Women possible starting lineup:
Panos; Ouahabi, Leon, Pereira, Torrejon; Putellas, Bonmati, Hamraoui; Caldentey, Hermoso, Hansen

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We say: Paris Saint-Germain Women 3-1 Barcelona Women

PSG will take an ample amount of confidence from knocking out five-time reigning champions Lyon in the last round, and this could be a pivotal factor in the Parisians gaining an advantage over Barcelona in the first leg.

Barca showed fragilities at the back against Manchester City in the quarter-final and with 40 goals between PSG's front three this season, we can see goals in this game for the French side.

Top tip

Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting under 3.5 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.

Written by
Sammy Wynne

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 Women win with a probability of 44.32%. A win for Barcelona Women had a probability of 34.77% and a draw had a probability of 20.9%.

The most likely scoreline for a Paris Saint-Germain Women win was 2-1 with a probability of 7.98%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 3-1 (5.49%) and 3-2 (4.99%). The likeliest Barcelona Women win was 1-2 (7.03%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (7.74%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with a 7.7% likelihood.