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

Paris Saint-Germain Women welcome Bayern Munich Women to the Parc des Princes on Wednesday for the second leg of their Women's Champions League quarter-final.

The hosts hold a slender lead in the tie after Marie-Antoinette Katoto starred in her side's 2-1 win at the Allianz Arena last week.

Match preview

Paris Saint Germain Women's Marie-Antoinette Katoto celebrates scoring their first goal with teammates on March 22, 2022 © Reuters

Wednesday's hosts are hoping 2022 is the year that they win the Champions League for the first time in their history, and a positive result in the second leg would edge them closer to achieving that goal.

PSG take a 2-1 lead into the midweek contest after Katoto took her European tally for the season to five goals, with the France international impressing in the first-leg victory.

Katoto thumped the ball home in the 20th minute to give the French Champions a half-time lead before she doubled her side's advantage in the second half, although, a superb Klara Buhl free kick ensured that the tie remains on a knife-edge.

The French champions were not afforded any rest at the weekend though, as they had to come from two goals down to beat Fleury 91 in the Coupe de France, with Katoto once again grabbing a brace in the 4-2 victory.

Although they conceded their first goal of this season's Champions League in the first leg, Wednesday's hosts will be confident that they can ease through to the last four after winning all three of their home European games this term by an aggregate 15-0 scoreline.

Bayern Munich Women's players celebrates scoring their first goal on March 22, 2022 © Reuters

Bayern Munich, meanwhile, are bidding to reach the semi-finals of Europe's elite club competition for the second season in a row.

However, if the German champions are to advance to the last four then they must overturn a 2-1 deficit, and their task has not been made easier by the fact that a number of their first-team squad are unavailable after testing positive for COVID-19.

Despite being without a number of key players, Bayern enjoyed a stress-free afternoon on Sunday as they eased past SGS Essen via a 4-0 scoreline to keep them firmly in the Frauen-Bundesliga title hunt.

Viviane Asseyi got her side off to the perfect start before Saki Kumagai scored either side of a Carolin Simon effort to wrap up a comprehensive win.

Although they will take confidence from Sunday's result, Jens Scheuer will be concerned that just one of his side's three away games in the Champions League this season have ended in victory.

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

Paris Saint-Germain Women form (all competitions):

Bayern Munich Women Women's Champions League form:

Bayern Munich Women form (all competitions):

Team News

Paris Saint Germain Women's Coach Didier Olle-Nicolle on March 22, 2022 © Reuters

PSG are expected to be without Sara Dabritz, who was injured against her former club in the first leg following a clash of heads with Glodis Perla Viggosdottir.

With Dabritz ruled out, Didier Olle-Nicolle could opt for a midfield made up of Grace Geyoro, Kheira Hamraoui and Aminata Diallo.

There is some positive news for the hosts though, with Paulina Dudek set to return to the squad after recovering from an ankle injury, however, the Poland international may have to settle for a place on the bench.

As for the visitors, their preparations for Wednesday's contest have been affect by a COVID-19 outbreak in the squad, with Linda Dallmann, Jovana Damnjanovic, Carina Wenninger, Sarah Zadrazil, Karolina Lea Vilhjalmsdottir and Franziska Kett all ruled out after testing positive.

Despite scoring in the weekend victory over Essen, Asseyi will also miss out as she serves a one-match suspension for an accumulation of yellow cards.

Bayern could also be without Buhl, who scored in the first leg defeat, with an injury issue set to sideline the Germany international.

Paris Saint-Germain Women possible starting lineup:
Votikova; Lawrence, De Almeida, Ilestedt, Karchaoui; Geyoro, Hamraoui, Diallo; Diani, Baltimore, Katoto

Bayern Munich Women possible starting lineup:
Leitzig; Glas, Kumagai, Viggosdottir, Gwinn; Magull, Lohmann; Beerensteyn, Rall, Simon; Schuller

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We say: Paris Saint-Germain Women 3-1 Bayern Munich Women

Although the tie remains in the balance, Bayern are without a number of regular first-team players, and we think that will hamper their chances on Wednesday, with PSG set to take advantage of Bayern's makeshift lineup.

Top tip

Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting over 1.5 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
Ben Sully

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 49.56%. A win for Bayern Munich Women had a probability of 28.27% and a draw had a probability of 22.2%.

The most likely scoreline for a Paris Saint-Germain Women win was 2-1 with a probability of 9.31%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (6.88%) and 2-0 (6.61%). The likeliest Bayern Munich Women win was 1-2 (6.83%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (9.69%).