Zlatan Ibrahimovic of Paris Saint-Germain FC in action during a match between Paris Saint-Germain FC and FC Lorient at Parc des Princes in Paris, France. PSG play Dynamo Kiev in UEFA Champions League on September 18, 2012. (Photo by Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images)
Big-money Paris Saint-Germain get their first real shot at Champions League glory. Can the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic fire them past Dynamo Kiev at the Parc des Princes?
Now that Paris Saint-Germain have finally found their feet in Ligue 1, it's time to turn their oil money-powered attention to the parts of Europe that aren't France. PSG haven't acquired a host of big-name players to win their domestic league -- they want to win the Champions League. Or at least make it look as though they're serious threats to win future Champions Leagues.
In order to do so they'll need to qualify from Group A and make some serious waves in the knockout rounds. Fortunately for PSG, they've got what looks like a fairly easy ride. Dynamo Kiev are their first opponents, and with Porto and Dinamo Zagreb rounding out the group stage matches there's a notable lack of big names to derail them here.
That's not to say that Kiev's team won't be entirely unfamiliar, especially for those who followed Euro 2012 closely. Miguel Veloso, Niko Kranjcar and Taye Taiwo are new additions, and Kiev possess most of the core of Ukraine's national team on top of that (although they're rendered slightly less dangerous by the retirement of legendary striker Andriy Shevchenko.
But they can't compete with the star power of PSG. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Javier Pastore, Thiago Silva, Ezequiel Lavezzi -- I could type a lot of names before I got to someone less recognisable to the average football fan than anyone on the Kiev squad. Make no mistake, this is a game that the hosts should cruise through, and if they don't they're in deep trouble. That's a recipe for a squad without much European experience to overthink things, so Carlo Ancelotti will have to make very, very sure that his team can get a win here.
Expect Parisian attacking power to be thrown at a packed Dynamo defence. Should be a fun one, especially if they can get Ibrahimovic firing on all cylinders.
Match Date/Time: Tuesday, 2:45 p.m. ET, 8:45 p.m. local
Venue: Park de Princes, Paris, France.
TV: Sky Sports Red Button (UK), DirecTV Soccer (U.S.), Sportsnet World Plus (Canada)
Online: Fox Soccer 2 Go (U.S.)
You can follow all of the matches in our UEFA Champions League Tuesday StoryStream. For more on the entire world of football, follow @SBNationSoccer on Twitter.
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