Millionaire Duel. PSG and Manchester City meet tonight in the Champions League in what could well be the most expensive game in the world. Face to face will be two 'gold clubs', two entities with a brutal economic capacity. Both have teams full of stars, top players of the highest level in the world that raise the price of the whole to astronomical figures.
According to Transfermarkt data, the Manchester City squad has a market value of 1,000 million euros, 1,005 to be exact, while that of PSG reaches 997.25. So between the two they exceed 2,000 million.
Both the French and the English have spent a great deal of money last summer on reinforcements. Both want to win the Champions League for the first time in their history and spare no financial effort to do so. In fact, Manchester City closed the most expensive contract on the market with Jack Grealish. The 25-year-old footballer left Aston Villa in exchange for 117.5 million euros and signed a six-year contract with the 'citizens'.
PSG have also been very active in the transfer window. He signed Achraf, from Inter Milan, for 60 million euros; in addition to gaining the services of Messi, Sergio Ramos, Donnarumma and Wijnaldun, players who arrived free, since they finished their contract with their respective teams, but some footballers to whom the club has offered millionaire salaries.
Of the constellation of cracks of both teams, the footballer with the highest market value is Mbappé, valued, according to Transfermarkt data, at around 160 million euros. Together with him, Neymar (100) and Messi (80) form the French attack, so that PSG's trident is valued at 340 kilos.
Meanwhile, at Manchester City, the three players with the highest market value are De Bruyne (100 million), Sterling (90) and Foden (80).
Beyond economics, in sports one of the big doubts is the presence of Messi, who has missed the last two PSG games. He looks like he will play, but he's not sure. Mauricio Pochettino, his coach, did not rule it out. "Messi is the same as Verratti, he's progressing well, he's evolving, I think he'll be in the team, but I don't know who's going to start yet," the coach said at the pre-match press conference on Monday.
Even Guardiola, his rival, wants the Argentine game. "This type of player speaks on the pitch. What he has done in his career is more than exceptional. Hopefully he can play tomorrow for the good of football," said the Manchester City manager.
Play or not play Messi, tonight there will be a constellation of cracks in the field. Welcome to the most expensive game in the world.
