Lyon provide first test for new-look PSG

PSG have undergone a summer of considerable change since securing a second consecutive clean sweep of France's domestic trophies in May, with Ibrahimovic leaving for Manchester United at the end of his contract.

Coach Laurent Blanc was sacked, paying the price for failing to take Paris beyond the quarter-finals of the Champions League, with Unai Emery arriving from Sevilla as his replacement.

Emery's new-look PSG, with new signings Hatem Ben Arfa, Grzegorz Krychowiak, Thomas Meunier and Giovanni Lo Celso, now attack their first competitive game after winning all four matches in pre-season.

"For us this is very important," said Emery, whose team begin their Ligue 1 title defence at Bastia next Friday. "It is still a pre-season match but it is also a chance to win a first trophy."

PSG will be without Thiago Silva and Edinson Cavani, while Adrien Rabiot and Poland midfielder Krychowiak, who followed Emery from Sevilla, are suspended.

"Cavani has a little strain so it was better that he stayed in Paris," said Emery, who will choose between Ben Arfa and France under-19 striker Jean-Kevin Augustin in attack.

Their European limitations ultimately cost Blanc his job, but PSG's dominance of the French game has been outrageous in recent seasons and this weekend they will be bidding to win the Champions Trophy for the fourth year running.

- 'Measure ourselves' -

The season curtain-raiser traditionally pits the champions against the French Cup holders, but just like last year, PSG will meet the Ligue 1 runners-up Lyon for the trophy.

Twelve months ago the game was played in the Canadian city of Montreal and it has also been staged in China, Gabon, the United States, Morocco and Tunisia in recent years.

The reasons for taking the match to these exotic venues appeared obvious, but the decision to go to Klagenfurt -- the 32,000-seat Woerthersee Stadion was rebuilt to host matches at Euro 2008 -- this time is rather harder to fathom.

In fact, it was a conscious decision to remain in Europe despite offers from Asia and Australia, according to the French league's director of economic development.

"PSG had just come back from the United States so it would have been complicated to go to Asia or Oceania," admitted Mathieu Ficot.

"So instead we decided to go somewhere in Europe, where we hadn't previously been."

Unlike Paris, Lyon stayed in Europe for their pre-season, although they did find themselves in Istanbul for a planned friendly against Fenerbahce when Turkey was hit by a botched military coup.

They have also seen defender Samuel Umtiti depart for Barcelona but have so far kept hold of midfielder Corentin Tolisso and star striker Alexandre Lacazette, the latter a target for PSG among others.

Defensive trio Nicolas Nkoulou, Emanuel Mammana and Maciej Rybus have all arrived, although the latter two will not feature this weekend.

"There is a trophy up for grabs and also the chance to measure ourselves against this Paris side to see what we can do over the course of the season and if we can reduce the gap between us and PSG," said Lyon coach Bruno Genesio.

Of the departure of Ibrahimovic, he added: "It changes things a little bit because he scored a lot of goals but they have other great players. We will still be up against one of the best teams in Europe."