Tonight sees the first of the new-look UEFA Champions League quarterfinals. Rather than taking place over two legs, one home and one away, Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) will face Serie A's Atalanta in a single knockout game, and instead of being played at a ground familiar to either side, it will be taking place at the firmly neutral Estadio da Luz in Lisbon, Portugal. Five substitutes rather than the regular three will also be made available.

It's a unique and completely different kind of game in the Champions League and it's intended to balance the playing field during the COVID-19 pandemic. However this could actually end up benefiting the Parisians. The boys from the Parc des Princes have developed a reputation for being big time bottlers in Europe.

Since their ascension to the Champions League in the 2013/14 season, they have yet to win a single second leg game. Their most famous crumble came in 2016/17, when they crushed Barcelona 4-0 at the Camp Nou, all but confirming a quarterfinal spot – only to then lose 6-1 at home.

This is generally credited to a lack of genuine competition in Ligue 1 and this could be their downfall against Atalanta. On an individual level, having a squad that includes players such as Neymar Jr., Edinson Cavani, Julian Draxler and Kylian Mbappe (who may not be available tonight due to an ankle injury) means that they have been able to tear through Ligue 1 – when the season ended, they were on a 15 game undefeated streak – and on a one-on-one level, they far outclass their Italian opponents in tonight's clash.

Manager Gian Piero Gasparini has excelled with his relatively-unknown Atalanta squad this year due to their high pressure style. Following an appalling that that saw the team lose all three of their first Group Stage games by a combined total of 11-2, they turned it around against Manchester City in November with a hard fought 1-1 draw and have been smashing them in ever since.

The perfect example of this can be seen in their Round of 16 win against La Liga's Valencia: across two games, they scored eight goals, four per game, five of which came from Josip Ilicic. Unfortunately, Ilicic will be unavailable for the game tonight (for reasons unknown; the initial story of an injury was apparently a cover for a severe bout of depression brought on by family issues) but his record shows they are a goal hungry team who constantly get service up to their strikers.

This ability to move the ball is likely to be a deciding factor. For PSG, it isn't just that they're missing midfielders Angel Di Maria and Marco Verratti from their squad due to injury, it's that since the coronavirus outbreak put football on hold five months ago, they've played only two competitive matches – the Coupe de France and Coupe de la Ligue finals – due to the league being terminated early. On the other hand, Atalanta have stayed active, finishing up both the Serie A and Coppa Italia.

Atalanta have never been this far in the competition before and PSG have never progressed from here so, even with the new rules, there's no real precedent to draw from. This is a game that should all come down to offence vs. defence: Can PSG handle endure Atalanta's press? And if so,  can Neymar and Mauro Icardi break through the back-three and nick a goal? It seems like that will be PSG coach Thomas Tuchels strategy, and with only 90 minutes to play, it could be enough.