Rio Ferdinand was in attendance at Paris Saint-Germain training on Friday morning to watch the club’s star players being put through their paces.
The former Manchester United defender and England international was in the French capital to cast his eye over Mauricio Pochettino’s squad.
Ferdinand confirmed he was in attendance at the club’s training facilities with a social media update on Friday morning as he joked that he was sending videos of the training to his WhatsApp groups.
The former central defender was in Paris to film a promotional video on Paris Saint-Germain for BT Sport, for whom Ferdinand now works as a pundit.
The broadcaster has the rights for TV coverage for PSG both for their Ligue 1 campaign alongside their matches in the Champions League in the United Kingdom.
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BT Sport cover all of PSG’s league matches – which do not coincide with the 3pm Saturday blackout rules for football in the UK – alongside their Champions League campaign.
The broadcaster is building up to next month’s Champions League Round of 16 return leg in the Spanish capital between Real Madrid and PSG.
Pochettino’s side lead 1-0 from last week’s first leg in Paris, in which Kylian Mbappe netted a late winner after Lionel Messi had seen his penalty saved.
PSG hold a narrow advantage in the tie ahead of their trip to the Spanish capital and are among the favourites to land this year’s competition.
The French club have never won the Champions League – with their final defeat against Bayern Munich in 2020 their best performance in the tournament.
PSG are recovering from last weekend’s shock 3-1 defeat at Nantes – just their second defeat in Ligue 1 this campaign.
BT Sport pundit Ferdinand wrote on his Twitter account: “Sending clips to my WhatsApp groups after watching Messi, Mbappe, Neymar, Di Maria, Icardi, Verratti in the warm up box
“Love it”.
Ferdinand was watching PSG as they prepared for Saturday night’s Ligue 1 clash against struggling Saint-Etienne, who languish in 16 th spot in the top-flight of French football.
Pochettino’s side play host to Saint-Etienne before a trip to Nice next weekend as they continue their preparations for the Champions League second leg in Spain.
That promises to be a season-defining match for the French club, for whom domestic glory this season is taken for granted – despite being pipped to last season’s league title by Lille.
PSG are a whopping 13 points clear at the top of the Ligue 1 standings ahead of second-placed Marseille, although they have been eliminated from the Coupe de France.
The French side play away at Real Madrid on 9 March.
