Paris - Paris Saint-Germain's hopes of carving out time to prepare for their Champions League clash against Chelsea were dashed Thursday when they were
ordered to play a scheduled league fixture three days before their duel with the Londoners.
PSG, chasing four trophies this season, will face Lille on Saturday, February 13 with the first leg of their last-16 clash in Europe against Chelsea on February 16 at their Parc des Princes home. The return is in London on March 6 while, before that, PSG have a Ligue 1 game at bitter rivals Marseille on February 7 as well
as another fixture on February 10.
The French professional league (LFP) said Thursday that the calendar cannot be tweaked.
"The LFP cannot find in a busy schedule an available date which respects the wishes of both clubs," said an LFP source, who added that neither PSG nor Lille took part
in the decision. The PSG v Lille game will go ahead as planned on February 13 at 1600GMT according to the schedule released onThursday. PSG coach Laurent Blanc had pleaded last week for a less congested schedule in order to prepare for the game with Chelsea and asked that the game against Lille be put back until either February 23 or 24. PSG face Saint-Etienne on Sunday, then
Lorient three days later, go to Marseille on February 7, meet Lyon on the 10th and Lille on 13th.