These two teams met in the group stage. PSG won 2-0 in France on Matchday 1 thanks to Kylian Mbappé and Achraf Hakimi, then in the final round of fixtures this happened …

… which meant Dortmund won the group, three points clear of PSG, who edged past AC Milan on the head-to-head record. And now we come to this.

The clubs previously met in two other European campaigns. In the 2019-20 Champions League round of 16, Dortmund won 2-1 at home, two Erling Haaland goals bookending a Neymar strike, but PSG won the return 2-0, Neymar scoring again before before Juan Bernat found the winner. PSG made it all the way to the final, which they lost to Bayern Munich. History preparing to repeat? Meanwhile in the 2010-11 Europa League groups, they pair played out a couple of undistinguished draws.

Harry Kane, Jamal Musiala, Vinícius Júnior, Toni Kroos: a few names who got good notices for their performance last night in the Bayern-Real match. Also mentioned positively in dispatches: the referee Clément Turpin and his VAR team of Jérôme Brisard and Willy Delajod. They let the game flow; Brisard made a series of quick and confident on-pitch decisions, and there were no interminable pauses caused by frantic forensic tape-spooling, despite the award of two penalty kicks. Marvellous. Helping out Anthony Taylor in the VAR room tonight? Stuart Attwell and David Coote, two other regular stars of the PGMOL’s popular light-entertainment vehicle Match Officials Mic’d Up. It’s going to be a fun evening of compare and contrast. Mind you, if tonight’s game, officiated under the auspices of Uefa, goes as smoothly as last night’s, it might be worth finding out exactly what Howard Webb is telling these poor chaps to do back home.

Borussia Dortmund are coming off the back of a miserable 4-1 loss at RB Leipzig, and make three changes. Marcel Sabitzer, Ian Maatsen and captain Emre Can replace Salih Özcan, Felix Nmecha and Marius Wolf, who all drop to the bench.

Paris Saint-Germain needed a couple of late goals to salvage a 3-3 draw at home to Le Havre last Saturday, and make five changes to their starting XI. Kylian Mbappé, Lucas Hernández, Nuno Mendes, Fabián Ruiz and goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma take the places of Marco Asensio, Danilo, Randal Kolo Muani, Lucas Beraldo and Keylor Navas, all of whom are named as subs.

Borussia Dortmund: Kobel, Ryerson, Hummels, Schlotterbeck, Maatsen, Sabitzer, Can, Sancho, Brandt, Adeyemi, Fullkrug.
Subs: Ozcan, Nmecha, Haller, Reus, Wolf, Moukoko, Malen, Sule, Meyer, Laurenz Lotka, Watjen, Bynoe-Gittens.

Paris Saint-Germain: Donnarumma, Hakimi, Marquinhos, Hernandez, Nuno Mendes, Zaire Emery, Fabian, Vitinha, Dembele, Mbappe, Barcola.
Subs: Navas, Ugarte, Goncalo Ramos, Asensio, Danilo Pereira, Lee, Mukiele, Carlos Soler, Lucas Beraldo, Skriniar, Tenas, Muani.

Referee: Anthony Taylor (Cheshire).

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If this first leg of the second semi-final proves to be even half as entertaining as last night’s 2-2 draw between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid, we’ll be doing pretty well. The 1997 champions and the 2020 runners-up get down to business in the Westfalenstadion at 8pm BST. It’s on!