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LEVERKUSEN. — Bayer Leverkusen must brush off recent poor form if they are to stop Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s Paris Saint-Germain’s march to the Champions League soccer quarter-finals in tonight’s last 16, first-leg clash. Leverkusen have their work cut out containing maverick Ibrahimovic and overcoming the formidable obstacle of high-scoring PSG if they are to reach the last eight for the first time since 2002.

Any side with Ibrahimovic in their ranks is dangerous and the Parisians finished as comfortable winners of Group C, scoring 16 goals in the process.

The 32-year-old boasts the superb return of eight goals from five Champions League matches this term, leaving him second only to Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo, who has nine.

The Sweden star already has three more than in his previous best seasons in the competition with Inter Milan in 2007-08 and AC Milan in 2011-12.

Sami Hyypia-coached Leverkusen have had far from an ideal preparation, crashing to their second straight home defeat, their fifth loss in seven games, when they went down 2-1 to Schalke 04 in Saturday’s Bundesliga match.

The defeat followed second-division Kaiserslautern’s shock 1-0 extra time German Cup win at Leverkusen’s BayArena last Wednesday, but Hyypia refuses to panic. “If we play like we did against Schalke, we will be able to live with Paris,” said the ex-Liverpool defender.

“Only playing well doesn’t bring us points, we have to be more effective and score goals. I hope we manage that against Paris.”
Hyypia will be able to call up Germany winger Sidney Sam, who was rested for the Schalke defeat.

Having reached the quarter-finals for the first time last season, big-spending PSG are gunning to be crowned European champions for the first time. — AFP.