Champions League: head-to-head Paris Saint-Germain - Real Madrid (Round of 16 first leg, 15/02/2022)

With a total of €1.445bn in transfer fees paid since the 2012 summer transfer market, Paris Saint-Germain (Ligue 1 Uber Eats) are the sixth biggest spenders in Europe when it comes to player acquisitions, just ahead of Real Madrid CF (LaLiga Santander), who spent €1.163bn over the same period, as the two clubs prepare to face each other in the 2021-22 Champions League Round of 16 first leg at a sold-out Parc des Princes (Paris, FRA) on Tuesday 15/02/2022 (kick-off 21:00 CET).

Paris Saint-Germain's current squad is also the most costly at €939m according to a study by the CIES Football Observatory, published on 06/09/2021 (which does not take into account subsequent deals). The website Transfermarkt valued the Parisian club's squad at €910m on 15/02/2022, while Madrid's squad was valued at €780m for a squad cost of €708m. Real Madrid, however, dominate in the training of top players if we take into account the number of players who have passed through their academy and are present in the European Top 5 in 2021-22 (data from October 2021), with 42 players, compared to 30 for Paris…