Neymar during a practice session, in Paris, on Monday

Paris: Paris St Germain coach Laurent Blanc admitted his team’s frailty when he said that, deprived of the injured Zlatan Ibrahimovic, they will be meeting their masters in Tuesday’s Champions League match against Barcelona.

“We’ll be against our masters, almost,” Blanc told a news conference on Monday ahead of the Group F game at the Parc des Princes. It was not the kind of remark that will boost his team’s confidence following a stuttering start to the season and the loss of Sweden striker Ibrahimovic due to a heel injury.

PSG have drawn six of their nine games in all competitions, including their opening Champions League match at Ajax Amsterdam, while Barcelona have won six of seven without conceding a goal.

Full back Maxwell, like Ibrahimovic a former Barca player, believes PSG need more time to get into their stride.

“After the World Cup the coach did not have all the players at his disposal for the training camp so it made the preparations more difficult,” Maxwell said.

“We’ve been working very hard to improve and find the form we had last year but it has not been easy.” Blanc believes the only way for PSG to get back on track is to play the kind of attacking football they have produced since he took over from Carlo Ancelotti last season.

“The only way we will find our level again is by playing because it is our philosophy and the players adhere to it,” he said.

“Barcelona have had this philosophy for 30-40 years and see where it led them. We lack aggressiveness when we don't have the ball,” Blanc added.

PSG could also be without Argentine forward Ezequiel Lavezzi who picked up a thigh injury last week in a 2-0 win against Caen.

Barca do not have that kind of problem going into the Parc des Princes clash.

Neymar and Lionel Messi struck five goals between them in the Granada rout and it was a further example of the growing understanding between the pair. The Brazilian got his second hat-trick as a Barca player while Messi's double saw him bring up 400 goals for club and country. “The first year was a case of adaptation but I now feel better and able to perform at a higher level,” Neymar said.

“We are combining more as a pair and I am very happy with the goals I am getting at the moment which is down to the work of the team.”

England goalkeeper Joe Hart, meanwhile, will return for Manchester City at home to Roma after being replaced by Willy Caballero at the weekend.

Hart sat on the bench for City’s 4-2 win at Hull City in the Premier League and Argentine Caballero, signed from Malaga in the summer, produced a solid display.

However, Hart remains manager Manuel Pellegrini's first choice.

Asked whether Hart would play in a match City cannot afford to lose, Pellegrini said: “Yes, he's in a very good moment also.”

As Jose Mourinho returns to his Portuguese footballing roots, the Chelsea manager may have to decide which back-up marksman he trusts most to shoot down his old employers at Sporting Lisbon.

In his perfect world, Mourinho would turn to his most ruthless hit man Diego Costa to down the club which two decades ago gave his fledgling coaching career a boost by letting him act as manager Bobby Robson's interpreter.

Instead, Costa's continuing hamstring fragility means that, while Mourinho insists he still hopes to start him, he is more likely to have to choose instead between Didier Drogba and Loic Remy to revitalise Chelsea's campaign after their disappointing opening Group G draw with Schalke.

Costa only appeared for the last quarter of an hour in that game when Chelsea's attack proved unconvincing. Drogba, who has yet to hit the target in his return to Chelsea, was one of the culprits in missing chances. Remy has so far scored once since his move from QPR.

Winning at his old stamping ground will be no easy task for Mourinho, given that Sporting will be protecting a four-year, 16-match unbeaten record, including 13 wins, in European competition at the Alvalade Stadium.

The presence of Costa, whose sensational start to his English career saw him net his eighth goal in six Premier League games in the 3-0 win over Aston Villa on Saturday, could prove the key. (reuters)