Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo kicks the ball during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Madrid and Levante at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Spain, on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2015. Ronaldo has recently broken Raul Gonzalez’s all-time scoring record for Madrid with his 324th career goal for the 10-time European champions.Daniel Ochoa de Olza/The Associated Press
Real Madrid versus Paris Saint-Germain means it's Cristiano Ronaldo versus Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Two of the best forwards in the game meet Wednesday in the Champions League when Madrid travels to Paris with the Group A lead at stake.
Ronaldo has recently broken Raul Gonzalez's all-time scoring record for Madrid with his 324th career goal for the 10-time European champions.
Ibrahimovic did the same for PSG. The Sweden striker had another two-goal game in the French league last weekend and is the club's all-time leading scorer with 112 goals in all competitions.
"Ronaldo is among the two extraterrestrial players of the planet football," said PSG coach Laurent Blanc, comparing the Portugal forward to Lionel Messi. "There won't be an anti-Ronaldo plan, because he is unstoppable, but we can do a lot to make sure he gets as little balls as possible."
PSG, which lost in the quarterfinals to Barcelona last season, is waiting on the fitness of goalkeeper Kevin Trapp and will be without injured defender David Luiz, but should see the return of midfielder Marco Verrati alongside Thiago Motta and Blaise Matuidi.
The midfield battle is expected to be one of the keys of the game, with Madrid boasting a solid line made of Casemiro, Toni Kroos and Luka Modric.
Both PSG and Madrid have six points from their first two matches.
In the other group match, Malmo will host Shakhtar Donetsk.
Here are some things to know about Wednesday's matches:
Ronaldo and the remainders
A seemingly endless spate of injuries means Madrid will more than ever look to Ronaldo to lead the way at the Parc des Princes.
Gareth Bale picked up a left-leg muscle injury in Madrid's 3-0 win over Levante on Saturday, while striker Karim Benzema returned from international duty with France with a hamstring pull.
Their knocks leave Ronaldo all alone in attack. Madrid coach Rafa Benitez opted to support his star with young forwards Jese Rodriguez, Lucas Vazquez and Borja Mayoral.
Modric and defender Sergio Ramos made the trip to Paris, while the injured Pepe, James Rodriguez and Dani Carvajal will miss the match.
Fortunately for Madrid, Ronaldo is as good as it gets in Europe. The Portugal forward is the competition's all-time leading scorer with 82 goals.
"[Ronaldo] leaves his mark on every game and every training session," Madrid midfielder Francisco "Isco" Alarcon said. "He is the hungriest player I have ever seen."
Injection required
Sergio Ramos will need a painkiller injection if he is to feature against PSG. Real Madrid coach Rafael Benitez said the centre-half has not completely recovered from a left shoulder injury and did not say whether he will risk aggravating the problem by starting the former world champion.
"He knows that he will be able to play with an injection, but it will be painful afterward," Benitez said. "In any case, he knows that this injury will keep bothering him for a while."
Good memories
The clash with Madrid brings back good memories to PSG fans.
When Madrid steps onto the Parc des Princes turf on Wednesday, it will be the first competitive match between PSG and Real Madrid since the 1994 European Cup Winners' Cup quarterfinals. PSG advanced to the semifinals with a 2-1 aggregate win following a 1-0 victory at Santiago Bernabeu, just one year after knocking Madrid out of the UEFA Cup at the same stage when a late goal from Antoine Kombouare in added time.
"On the eve of the returned leg, we met in a hotel room and told ourselves: 'We are going to walk on their heads,"' recalled Kombouare, who helped PSG to a 4-1 win after a 3-1 loss in Madrid. "This is my biggest memory as a football player."
Talisman Teixeira
With both PSG and Madrid to contend with in Group A, qualifying for the knockout stage was always going to be a challenge for Shakhtar Donetsk.
Shakhtar travels to Malmo in the group's other match for a meeting between two teams yet to earn a single point. Barring a dramatic change of course, the Ukrainian and Swedish teams are playing for third place and a ticket to the Europa League.
Malmo must contend with Shakhtar's talisman, attacking midfielder Alex Teixeira, who is in form with 17 goals in 18 games this season across all competitions. He scored two valuable goals in Shakhtar's last game, a 3-0 win over rival Dynamo Kyiv that put Shakhtar back on top of the Ukrainian league standings.
With midfielder Taras Stepanenko back from suspension, Shakhtar heads to Sweden with high hopes.
Pundit Ancelotti
A former coach of both PSG and Real Madrid, Carlo Ancelotti knows both sides inside out.
He gave the French club its first league title in 19 years in 2013 and clinched four titles during a two-year tenure at Madrid from 2013-15, including the 2014 Champions League.
Currently without a club, Ancelotti was asked by L'Equipe newspaper to make predictions ahead of Wednesday's match.
"I think PSG is going to develop a possession game while Real will play with the idea of getting them on counter-attacks, although they are missing some important players," Ancelotti said. "PSG is now among the best clubs in Europe. There are four [favourites]: PSG, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona."