(Football news) After this match, the winner will play Rennes for a spot in the final; Lyon and Valenciennes have already advanced to the semi-finals. At home against Reims over the weekend, PSG was held to a 2-2 tie, their third straight league match. It was an awful effort.

The manager, Luis Enrique, may now be tempted to concentrate only on the Coupe and the Champions League, given the distance to second-place Brest is still 10 points. This comes after a recent stalemate with Monaco and a 1-1 draw with Rennes.

The never-ending saga involving Kylian Mbappe made more headlines as he was benched for the clash with Reims on Sunday just days after he had blown Real Sociedad away in San Sebastian in the Champions League.

It was in that competition where PSG suffered their last defeat though, away at San Siro against AC Milan 22 games ago, as despite the recent blip in the league, they have still maintained that fine record.

After progressing through the last 16 on the continent, this is the first time in three seasons PSG have made it into the quarter-finals of the Coupe, after back-to-back last-16 exits.

That was hugely surprising considering the Parisiens had reached seven straight finals between 2015 and 2021, winning six of them.

Getting through two possibly challenging tests against Nice, and then Rennes, would set PSG up with a fantastic chance of reclaiming the trophy, given that struggling Lyon or second-tier basement boys Valenciennes would be waiting in the final.

This season, Nice has previously defeated Ligue 1 opponents 3-2 in the Parc des Princes, but over the weekend, they once again showed how desperate they are. Nice’s record is currently just two points from six games and they don’t seem likely to challenge for Champions League spots after suffering yet another loss, this time against Montpellier, a team facing relegation.

Nice was second best to PSG for the majority of the season, but after losing in the competition’s last round, they are now sixth. Their lone victory since January came against Lyon. When they defeated PSG on penalties in the round of 16 to get to the finals of the 2022 Coupe and ultimately lose to Nantes, the visitors will be hoping to draw motivation from that performance.

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