Chelsea Pairing Gives PSG and David Luiz Point to Prove in Champions League

At the start of the season, reaching the knockout stages of the Champions League was the minimum that was expected of Paris Saint-Germain.

However, drawing Chelsea in the round of 16 has put a huge mountain in the way of the French club exceeding their quarter-final place of last year.

Being drawn against the English club will give both PSG and their €50 million summer signing David Luiz a point to prove in the Champions League.

With the backing of the Qatari Sports Investment group every season, Laurent Blanc—or whoever is in charge of the nouveau riche club—will be judged on their progression in Europe's elite competition.

Unfortunately for Blanc, he is set to go head to head with the side that eliminated them last season, and although the squad has been strengthened and improved, so have their opponents.

PSG did not spend their entire transfer budget on Brazilian defender David Luiz just to win their third Ligue 1 title in a row; he was bought to advance the team against the best clubs in the competition.

Manu Fernandez/Associated Press

The 27-year-old had a key role to play in last season's matchup. In the first leg Luiz turned the ball into his own net as PSG took a 3-1 lead to Stamford Bridge.

Then the defender would turn provider in the second leg, his cushioned header guiding the ball on to the foot of Andre Schurrle; that goal pushed PSG to go more defensive and eventually led to Demba Ba's second-half game winner.

With Monday's draw pitting the two teams together again, the narrative is set. Luiz has switched sides, and there is a very good chance that he will play a huge part in the outcome of this match.

Christophe Ena/Associated Press

Already this season, Luiz has shown both sides of his game.

Against Barcelona at the Parc des Princes, the centre-back was at his imperious best. It felt like he was everywhere he needed to be with his high-energy, heroic performance, and it was his 10th-minute goal that opened the scoring in the 3-2 victory.

To even things out, questions have been raised over his recent form after the performance, again against Barcelona but this time at the Camp Nou.

After PSG took an early lead, Luiz was posted missing in action when Luis Suarez picked out Lionel Messi in the penalty box to level the scores. The Brazilian could be seen yards behind the Argentine forward.

When the two sides meet in February, no one will be more motivated to put in a performance than Luiz. He is still facing doubts over whether he was worth the huge outlay this summer.

Speaking to UEFA.com, Chelsea secretary David Barnard expected that the Brazilian will receive a welcoming reception.

"

We'll show them all the respect they deserve. And then we've also got David Luiz coming back, just to add an extra ingredient. He was obviously a very popular player at Chelsea so I am sure he will get a good reception.

It's ironic that José sort of hoped for PSG, really for the travel purposes, of being easy to get to. But again, anybody that is in this stage of the competition is there by merit. Again we don't take them lightly.

[David Luiz] was part of our Champions League-winning team in Munich so he'll always be in the hearts of our supporters.

"

Even the players were quick to express their delight in taking on their former team-mate in the last 16.

"

@DavidLuiz_4 is coming back to Stamford Bridge... That was my guess prior to the draw ... :-D

— Petr Cech (@PetrCech) December 15, 2014"

Victory for the French side, with a positive performance from David Luiz, would help silence the critics of PSG's summer business, but if Jose Mourinho's impressive side do advance to the quarter-finals, then Luiz will have to do a lot more to prove he was worth the risk.