The upcoming colossal friendly in Paris marks the beginning of August for FC Barcelona. Barcelona will face a new look Paris Saint-Germain that is the center of attention in Europe after finalizing the transfers of Thiago Silva and Zlatan Ibrahimovic from AC Milan. How will Barcelona and PSG approach the match? Find out what we think after the jump.

Paris Saint-Germain is no stranger to success, but the arrival of Qatar Investment Authority in 2011 made sure that the club is the richest in France and one of the richest in the world. Since 2011 several stars have signed up for PSG, including Javier Pastore and Alex. However, last season, a club from Barcelona’s twin city Montpellier, was the Ligue 1 winner. Therefore, PSG upped the ante and brought in three more stars from Serie A so far this summer: Lavezzi, Thiago Silva, and Ibrahimovic.

Ancelotti and a few other PSG players have voiced their admiration for FC Barcelona, but make no mistake about it, they will try their hardest to win in Parc des Princes tonight. FC Barcelona will meet three of its ex-players playing for PSG; the defender Maxwell, the defensive midfielder Thiago Motta, and the strong striker Ibrahimovic.

FC Barcelona

Tito Vilanova has used a 4-3-3 formation as the starting point for his games. So far Alexis, Sergi Roberto, Mascherano, and Messi look very fit and have performed well. For tonight’s match, Tito will have a lot of the Spanish players back from vacation and the Olympics, all except for Alba. Adriano also suffered a slight injury so Barcelona have no natural left back position for this match. Expect Tito to field one of the best starting elevens for Barcelona.

Predicted Starting XI – Valdes; Alves, Mascherano, Pique, Bartra; Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta; Messi, Alexis, Pedro

Paris Saint-Germain

PSG will be without Thiago Silva, Motta, Lugano, and Sissoko for this match. Ancelotti played a lot of 4-2-3-1 formations last season but since the arrival of Ibrahimovic and Lavezzi, they have played a 4-3-3 formation. Two teams playing with 4-3-3 and looking to outplay one another will make this match very interesting.

Predicted Starting XI – Douchez; Bisevac, Alex, Sakho, Maxwell; Bodmer, Menez, Pastore; Lavezzi, Nene, Ibrahimović

PSG will pose a very good test for the Barcelona side in the preseason. The opposition’s player quality will test the concentration and fitness level of the blaugrana players. Expect a lot of youngsters to be fielded in the second half and for Messi to star again tonight. The Euro winners will not play the full match as they have just gotten back from their vacations.

Image: fcbarcelona.cat