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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Ben Husband

Sir Alex Ferguson follows Pep Guardiola's lead with last-minute PSG hotel visit

Sir Alex Ferguson reportedly spent more than an hour with Paris Saint-Germain officials on the eve of their Champions League semi-final second leg with Manchester City.

The legendary former boss made the trip across the city as the French outfit look to end City’s European dream for another year.

After a 2-1 win in Paris last week, Pep Guardiola’s side are the favourites to reach the final of this competition for the first time in their history.

But in PSG, City will still have to overcome a team including Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, although the Frenchman is a major injury doubt.

And just hours before kick-off, Ferguson visited the Lowry Hotel, where PSG’s players and officials are the only guests.

Sir Alex Ferguson was spotted leaving The Lowry Hotel, hours ahead of PSG's Champions League decider with Man City (Eamonn and James Clarke)

According to the MEN, the Scot met with club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi, while also holding talks with manager Mauricio Pochettino.

Whether his intervention proves to be decisive, remains to be seen, but the red half of Manchester will be hoping it works significantly better than Guardiola’s attempt at the same trick last year.

RB Leipzig manager Julian Nagelsmann revealed that the City boss visited the Germans’ temporary training base in England ahead of their group clash with the Red Devils.

It has been claimed the former Man Utd boss held talks with PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi and manager Mauricio Pochettino (Eamonn and James Clarke)

"When we played United back in October, he came to visit the team and I on his day off just to say hello. That is very appreciative,” he told BILD.

That of course backfired, with United running riot against the Bundesliga side, winning 5-0 in the process.

However, Leipzig would have the last laugh in the group, beating them on the final matchday to dump Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side out of Europe’s Premier cup competition.

Ferguson will need faster results this time around as Pochettino’s men look to complete the turnaround at the Etihad.

"We need to be ready to suffer in some parts of the game and, when we have our chances, we need to be clinical and aggressive,” Pochettino said in his pre-match press conference.

"It's a game, 90 minutes, and we need to finish scoring twice.”

If anybody knows about playing to the whistle and winning from behind in the Champions League, it’s Ferguson, it may have been a vital exchange of advice.

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