Pastore bullish over PSG chances against Madrid

Drawing Real Madrid in the round of 16 has not affected Paris Saint-Germain’s hopes of Champions League glory, according to Javier Pastore.

Unai Emery’s all-star squad claimed top spot in Group B ahead of Bayern Munich but their dubious reward is a tie-of-the-round showdown with Madrid, who have won the competition in three of the past four seasons.

Nevertheless, Argentina midfielder Pastore believes a PSG side including Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani have nothing to fear.

“We want to win this competition,” Pastore told reporters.

“Real Madrid is a very difficult team but we have a good team too.”

Pastore was speaking after PSG won 4-2 at Strasbourg to book a spot in the quarter finals of the Coupe de la Ligue – revenge for the surprise 2-1 Ligue 1 defeat they suffered against Thierry Laurey’s side earlier this month.

“In the seven years that I’ve been here, every year we lose two games in a row and it’s a crisis,” the 28-year-old added.

“Then we win and it’s over.”