‘I don’t fear Haaland’ – Meunier backs PSG to overcome Borussia Dortmund in Champions League

Paris Saint-Germain full-back Thomas Meunier has said that he does not fear the challenge posed to him by Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Haaland.

Since moving to the Bundesliga side in the January transfer window from Red Bull Salzburg, the 19-year-old has been in prolific form, scoring seven times in just three Bundesliga matches and adding another for good measure in a 3-2 DFB Pokal defeat to Werder Bremen on Tuesday.

The teenager has scored in each game he has played for Dortmund, despite totalling less than 200 minutes of football for his new side, and with a Champions League meeting against PSG looming at the end of the month, he will have the opportunity to prove himself in the knockout stages after scoring eight goals for Salzburg in the group phase.

Meunier, who has been with PSG since moving from Club Brugge in the summer of 2016 and has experienced the disappointment of crashing out at the last-16 stage of the competition in each of those three seasons, says that Haaland is not a player who holds particular worry  for the Ligue 1 leaders.

“Fear him? I don’t know him especially,” he admitted in the mixed zone after Thomas Tuchel’s side overcame Nantes 2-1 on Tuesday.

“He’s got very good numbers, which underline that Dortmund score an enormous number of goals, but they’re also a team that concedes a lot of goals.

“On paper, PSG can beat any team. It’s up to us to ensure that we qualify.”

Before that encounter with the Germans, PSG have a Sunday fixture with Lyon to negotiate then a Coupe de France quarter-final away to Dijon. They will then travel to Amiens and finally will face Dortmund on February 18.

Their opponents, meanwhile, have a far quieter build-up to the fixture, with league encounters against Bayer Leverkusen and Eintracht Frankfurt before the Champions League tie. 

The return leg of the fixture will not be played until March 11 at Parc des Princes.

PSG will be hoping to avoid a repeat of last season’s loss to Manchester United, when they won 2-0 at Old Trafford before succumbing to a 3-1 defeat at home.