We respect Manchester City, insists Blanc

Laurent Blanc expects Paris Saint-Germain to be involved in a “great confrontation” with Manchester City after the two clubs were drawn to play each other in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

Having recorded back-to-back 2-1 wins to knock Chelsea out in the last 16, the Ligue 1 champions find themselves up against Premier League opposition once again.

Blanc recognises that PSG faced a difficult prospect no matter who they were drawn to play in the last eight, but is particularly wary of a City side that play “beautiful football”.

“Destiny has given us Manchester City, which is of course a very good club, a very good team with a good coach,” he told PSG TV.

“At this stage of the competition, there are only good teams. So, we respect a lot this team. We will carefully study them, even if we already watched them a lot on TV.

“It will be a great confrontation because I think Manchester City has a style, a philosophy of play. [They] play beautiful football.

“I think it will be two good matches.”

Captain Thiago Silva echoed the sentiments of his coach, adding that PSG must be wary of City’s ability to turn defence into attack.

“I think it will be a difficult game, like all Champions League matches,” the Brazilian defender added.

“It will be a very good game to play because they have a good team who like to play beautiful football. We like that.

“It will be perfect to play a game like that against a good team. We will continue to work to try to put this team of Manchester City in difficulties. City is always a dangerous team in counter attack.”

The first leg will be staged at Parc des Princes on April 6, with the return fixture in Manchester on April 12.