Just like Thiago Silva after him, Claude Makelele played for both PSG and Chelsea, and had a very successful time with both clubs.
I have some quotes from Silva on the live blog today, and he is finding this fixture a very tough one to call.
But Makelele has some fine advice and warnings for Chelsea ahead of this game, knowing that PSG will be ready for this one.
Makelele etched his name into the history of both clubs at the beginning of their respective journeys to becoming European champions.
Makelele became an assistant to Carlo Ancelotti at PSG when he stopped playing. He had finished his playing days in the French capital by helping Les-Rouge-et-Blue turn a corner, achieving stability on the pitch and soon benefitting from fresh ownership off it. Domestic dominance followed and, in May last year, a maiden and much sought-after Champions League title was won.
‘Like Chelsea, Paris craved this trophy for a long time,’ Makelele tells us in the West Stand at Stamford Bridge.
‘It was a similar journey. When I joined Chelsea, we created a new team with new history, but bigger. At Paris we did the same. Two capitals. Now both clubs have realised many things in the Champions League.
‘It’s nice when you have been a part of these big projects. This is what we love about football. You really feel it. I am proud because my name will say forever that I was there.’
It is this new, elite Paris Saint-Germain that await Chelsea. Makelele believes last summer’s Stateside showdown – in which the Blues triumphed 3-0 in the Club World Cup final – will not have a major bearing on the forthcoming Round of 16 tie. However, he says that victory in New Jersey did highlight what this Chelsea team are capable of on the big occasion.
‘Paris will be ready, and Chelsea need to focus on this game and not dream about when they beat them in America in another competition,’ says Makelele.
‘They are young players, talented. A young team needs to show why they are champion players. They have been waiting to play in these types of games in the Champions League. We know Paris are there already.’
‘In Paris, the fans are electric,’ Makelele adds. ‘When I played there, they built pressure, proper pressure for their adversaries – and for their own players, also!
‘It will be two teams with similar stories and similar rises. I’m just happy because I will be at both games!’
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