Preview: Paris Saint-Germain vs Flamengo - prediction, team news, lineups

Making their first appearance in the Intercontinental Cup final, Paris Saint-Germain will take on Flamengo for the title on Wednesday at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium in Qatar.

As reigning Champions League winners, Les Parisiens earned an automatic berth into this game while the Brazilians defeated Pyramids 2-0 to claim the Challenger Cup and earn a spot in the final.

Match preview

A season after winning nearly everything possible, the French giants are discovering how difficult it is to lift trophies yet again.

They were denied their first world trophy over the summer when Chelsea beat them in the Club World Cup final (3-0), while they are behind Lens in the Ligue 1 title race by a single point after 16 matchdays.

Luis Enrique’s men enter this encounter on a three-match unbeaten run across all competitions, posting two clean sheets over that stretch.

PSG have points in eight of their last nine competitive games played outside the Parc des Princes, but dropped points on four of those occasions.

The last time they played in a cup final in Qatar was the beginning of a magical few months for the club, defeating Monaco 1-0 in Doha to capture the Trophée des Champions, lifting three more trophies later that year.

Wednesday will only be their second time facing a Brazilian club, after losing 1-0 to Batafogo in the Club World Cup group phase this past summer.

It has been a long time since Flamengo have been this close to the Intercontinental Cup, but they earned their place in the final, putting the Egyptians on their heels from the early going.

As a result, they are a win away from claiming their second Intercontinental Cup title, with their previous one coming in 1981 in Tokyo over Liverpool (3-0).

The club from Rio will seek their fourth world trophy on Wednesday and their third this year, having already captured the Challenger Cup and the Derby of the Americas.

Filipe Luis’s men have suffered just one competitive defeat since November while capturing both the Copa Libertadores and Brasileiro Serie A crowns in the span of a week.

Mengao are unbeaten in their last three competitive matches played away from home, dropping points in three of those previous four instances.

This will be the first time they play a French team in a competitive fixture, and at the Club World Cup over the summer, they went 1-1 against European sides, defeating the eventual champions Chelsea (3-1) before being knocked out by Bayern Munich (4-2).

Paris Saint-Germain form (all competitions):

Flamengo (all competitions):

Team News

An ankle injury will keep Achraf Hakimi out of the PSG fold for this match, while Lucas Chevalier should be back from his ankle issue and Ousmane Dembele is eligible to play after missing their weekend fixture with Metz.

In their Ligue 1 triumph over Les Merlus this past weekend, Goncalo Ramos, Quentin Ndjantou Mbitcha and Desire Doue all found the back of the net to help them collect a narrow 3-2 triumph.

Expect Allan to miss Flamengo's match on Wednesday with a heel injury, and Pedro is questionable due to a forearm issue.

Leo Pereira and Danilo found the back of the net against Pyramids, while Agustin Rossi made two stops to collect a clean sheet in the victory.

Paris Saint-Germain possible starting lineup:

Chevalier; Zaire-Emery, Beraldo, Marquinhos, Mendes; Vitinha; Neves, Kang-in; Doue, Dembele, Kvaratskhelia

Flamengo possible starting lineup:

Rossi; Varela, Danilo, Pereira, Lucas; Pulgar, Jorginho; Carrascal, de Arrascaeta, Everton; Plata

We say: Paris Saint-Germain 2-1 Flamengo

Having played so many elite teams and being pushed domestically should serve as a message to PSG not to be complacent, something we believe will enable the French side to be at their best for this match.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.