PSG focused on Real despite double-header

Paris Saint-Germain coach Unai Emery says his side will be using twoupcoming matches against arch-rivals Marseille at the Parc des Princesas preparation for the Champions League clash with Real Madrid. PSG’sgames with Marseille are usually the biggest fixtures on the Frenchfootballing calendar, but Spaniard Emery insists that tomorrow’s Ligue 1match and next week’s French Cup quarter-final come second to trying tokeep alive their European dream.The big-spending capital club were beaten 3-1 in the first leg of theirlast-16 tie last week as Cristiano Ronaldo scored a double for reigningchampions Real. “These are two ‘clasicos’ (against Marseille)...whichwill serve to prepare us for Real,” Emery wrote this week on hispersonal website.PSG, who were held to a 2-2 draw at Marseille earlier this season, are12 points clear at the top of the French table and set to reclaim thetitle they lost to Monaco last season. It would be a fifth league crownin six seasons for the Parisians but, for all the money poured into theclub by their Qatari owners, PSG have not been able to translatedomestic domination into European success, with the 6-1 humiliation atBarcelona a year ago the low point.Emery attracted a lot of the blame for that performance and for the lossto Zinedine Zidane’s Real at the Santiago Bernabeu, where he removedstriker Edinson Cavani with the score still level.But the former Sevilla coach argues that PSG are much better at home,where they had beaten Barca 4-0 in the first leg last season. “It isabove all at the Parc that we remain a powerful force,” he added.“Marseille and Real Madrid know they have to come to Paris, but theydon’t really know what is facing them. Together we will do it.”Cavani scored twice in a 5-2 romp against Strasbourg last weekend, thesecond set up by world-record signing Neymar. But Cavani’s on-fieldgestures make it clear he thinks the Brazilian should pass to him moreoften and their strained relationship is under the microscope. ForMarseille, there might never be a better time to go to the Parc desPrinces as they look to end a 15-match winless streak against PSG datingback to November 2011.They have not finished in the top three since 2013 but are regainingsome consistency and punch under Rudi Garcia and enter the weekend onepoint behind Monaco in the race to finish second. The warm-up to themain event is the latest round in another of France’s bitterestrivalries as Saint-Etienne travel the 70 kilometres to Lyon.Whatever happens on the field, expect fireworks. Lyon’s thumping 5-0victory in the return fixture in November saw captain Nabil Fekirprovoke anger from the Saint-Etienne fans by holding up his shirt infront of them, culminating in a yellow card and a one-match suspension.Both sets of fans have been persistently guilty of setting off flares atgames and the resentment between the clubs runs deep. Bruno Genesio’sLyon have gone four league matches without a win to slip six pointsadrift of Marseille in the race for a Champions League spot.FixturesToday: Toulouse v Monaco (1600), Guingamp v Metz, Lille v Angers, Nantesv Amiens, Rennes v Troyes, Dijon v Caen (all 1900) Tomorrow: Bordeaux vNice (1400), Lyon v Saint-Etienne (1700), Paris Saint-Germain vMarseille (2000)