Seasoned Champions League winners meet the perennial also-rans in Wednesday's last-16 first leg, as Paris Saint-Germain welcome Liverpool to their Parc des Princes base for a heavyweight encounter.

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The much-coveted European crown continued to elude PSG during the golden era of Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi and Neymar, since when the powers-that-be have moved away from signing the superstars of today to focus on nurturing the superstars of tomorrow with Luis Enrique's guidance.

Les Parisiens' new-look crop were at serious risk of an embarrassing early exit from Europe, but a three-game winning sequence - including a 4-2 comeback job over Manchester City - saved their league phase bacon before they squared up to familiar opposition in the playoff round.

Showing no mercy to European novices Brest, PSG followed up a 3-0 first-leg success with a 7-0 second-leg slaughter to make it five wins on the spin in Europe's top tournament; not since the 1994-95 season have they won more successive Champions League matches.

The calibre of opponent will now kick up a notch for Enrique's side, but preparations for Wednesday's clash of the titans could hardly have gone better, as a comprehensive 4-1 Ligue 1 win over Lille extended their victorious streak to a terrific 10 matches across all competitions.

In fact, only one of the hosts' last 20 matches across all competitions has not ended in triumph - a 1-1 home draw with Reims towards the end of January - and to the surprise of no-one, they are surging towards their customary top-flight crown as they sit 13 points clear at the Ligue 1 summit.

However, French top-flight titles have been bread and butter for the capital giants for some time, whereas the Champions League last-16 curse has often bedevilled PSG, who have been eliminated from the competition at this stage in five of the last eight seasons.

PSG could do worse than take a leaf out of Liverpool's book when it comes to conquering the continent, and a dead-rubber defeat against PSV Eindhoven aside, the Reds swept aside their other continental foes with minimal difficulty during the league phase.

Seven wins from Slot's first seven Champions League games in charge preceded that inconsequential 3-2 loss in the Netherlands on matchday eight, but the Reds still comfortably topped the league-phase rankings and remain in hot pursuit of a domestic and continental treble.

Like PSG, the Merseyside mammoths also hold a 13-point lead atop the Premier League rankings courtesy of back-to-back 2-0 wins over Manchester City and Newcastle United in their last two games, and the defence of their EFL Cup title will conclude on March 16 against an Anthony Gordon-less Newcastle United in the final.

The Reds may head into Wednesday's first leg on a three-game losing run in Champions League knockout games, but every one of those defeats was to Real Madrid - one of their league-phase victims - and they are the only side yet to lose an away game in the English top flight this season.

The overall away picture is less pleasant for Liverpool, who only have three wins to show from their last nine road matches across all tournaments, and the Premier League leaders are also without victory in five straight away games versus French sides in Europe since taking down Marseille in September 2008.

That winless sequence includes a 2-1 reverse to PSG during the sides' most recent meeting in November 2018, but Jurgen Klopp had overseen a 3-2 Anfield success a couple of months beforehand, and either Aston Villa or Club Brugge will be waiting with bated breath for the winner of this titanic tussle in the quarter-finals.

Probable Lineups：