Saracens are off their feet in the ruck. Maro Itoje to blame I think there.

Teddy Iribaren is going to take on the penalty from in front and 45m back...

Matt Dawson
England World Cup winner on BBC Radio 5 Live

It looked like the wrong time to attack on this occasion. There were the two Vunipola brothers but not a lot else. The focus they have to work on is keeping within their pattern.

Mako Vunipola is lined up by a couple of Racing defenders and their double tackle stops the England prop in his tracks as he takes a pop pass off brother Billy.

Knock-on. Sky blue and white ball.

Maro Itoje is very vocal out there. The Saracens second row is whooping and hollering as Teddy Thomas spills a pass off his bootstraps to handover possession.

It is not everyone's cup of tea, but it does seem effective..

Finn Russell is pulling strings and posing questions.

A long pass out to Simon Zebo has the Irishman running at a half-gap before a sky-scraping up and under is spilled by Sean Maitland.

Tim Swinson is down, and then back up again.

Matt Dawson
England World Cup winner on BBC Radio 5 Live

I have been slightly surprised by the way Racing have defended a little more classically French. They do not seem to be putting much line speed on Saracens who are going through the hands.

It is a semi-final you would expect blood, guts and thunder.

Racing 92 make good on the line-out deep inside their own 22m.

But the French side will have to juggle their pack. Flanker Fabien Sanconnie has copped a bad head knock, catching a combination of Alex Goode's hip and elbow as he went to tackle the Sarries' fly-half.

He is off, certainly for 10 minutes maybe longer, and Baptiste Chouzenoux is off the pine and into the fray.

Matt Dawson
England World Cup winner on BBC Radio 5 Live

He never looks happy. He just cruises around the field orchestrating his team. He does not give too much away. The stage is set for someone like Finn Russell.

A bit of a wobble on Racing hooker Camille Chat line-out throw. Nicked by Saracens. A dart and probe by Elliot Daly, whose grubber squirms its way into touch before Teddy Thomas can get to it.

Alex Goode drops out long, Teddy Iribaren cleans up and Finn Russell finds touch up near halfway.

We are off and running.

Chris Jones
BBC rugby union correspondent on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra

It is set up superbly for a cracking game between two big forward packs and different styles. Racing will look to run the ball, Saracens will look to suffocate and press and force the French into mistakes.

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There is a 1000-strong crowd in the whizz-banging Defence Arena. It was intended that they would be 5000, but Paris' climbing R-rate has meant that the number had to be cut. The light show is in full effect.

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The build-up to this match has been given a pinch of spice by comments from Racing's billionaire owner Jacky Lorenzetti.

Lorenzetti told Rugbyrama , externalthat a proposed loan move for Maro Itoje had floundered on the star second row's demands for a million euros a season (about £910,000).

(That may not be the case. Premiership clubs reportedly put the brakes on it after it was suggestion Itoje would still be allowed to play for England)

Lorenzetti also was clear about his thoughts on Saracens salary-cap breach.

"It's as if we put, on a Grand Prix grid, six teams with 500 horsepower engines and next to it, another with a 750 horsepower engine. In this story, it is the opponents of the Saracens who are to be pitied. Make no mistake about it."

Again, Top 14 clubs have a salary cap around £10m compared to Premiership clubs who have about £7m, admitted with a couple of marquee players who sit outside that limit.

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These two have a bit of previous.

They were paired in the same pool earlier in the competition with Saracens winning 27-24 at homeafter a below-strength side suffered a 30-10 defeat in Paris.

Overall Saracens have won six of their previous eight meetings with Racing in the competition, including the victory in the 2016 final that secured the club their first European title.

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Wing Teddy Thomas and second row Donnacha Ryan come into the Racing XV.

The French side have Scotland international Finn Russell at fly-half, with Teddy Iribaren preferred to Maxime Machenaud at nine.

Ryan is joined in the side by another former Ireland international as Simon Zebo starts at full-back. Recently-signed Australia international Kurtley Beale is unavailable after picking up a ban on domestic duty.

Racing 92: Zebo; Thomas, Vakatawa, Klemenczak, Imhoff; Russell, Iribaren (c); Ben Arous, Chat, Colombe, Bird, Ryan, Lauret, Sanconnie, Claassen

Replacements:Baubigny, Kolingar, Oz, Palu, Chouzenoux, Machenaud, Gibert, Trinh-Duc

Image source, Getty Images

Saracens have named an unchanged side for their semi-final meeting with Racing 92 and the next stage on a potentially extraordinary defence of their Champions Cup crown.

Alex Goode continues at fly-half in the absence of the suspended Owen Farrell.

Prop Mako Vunipola and scrum-half Richard Wigglesworth are fit after making their comebacks in the last-eight win over Leinster.

Saracens: Daly; Lewington, Taylor, Barritt (c), Maitland; Goode, Wigglesworth; M Vunipola, George, Koch; Itoje, Swinson; Rhodes, Wray, B Vunipola.

Replacements:Woolstencroft, Barrington, Clarey, Hunter-Hill, Clark, Davies, M Vunipola, Morris.

Image source, Getty Images

Saracens aren't supposed to be here.

In January, it was confirmed that they would be relegated to the second-tier Championship as punishment for repeated salary-cap breaches.

A day later, they were a man and four points down in a final pool game that they had to win to make the last eight.

And last weekend they were up against the red-hot favourites for the title in Leinster.

But, minus a few of the big-hitters, they are here. Liam Williams, George Kruis, Will Skelton, Ben Earl and others have headed out the exit. But it is still a star-studded that has travelled to Paris to face Racing.

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Le Crunch, club edition.

This weekend sees powerhouses from either side of the Channel collide in an epic Anglo-French double header with places in the Champions Cup final up for grabs.

First up, we have defending European champions Saracens taking on Parisian big-spenders Racing 92, before French champions Toulouse take on runaway Premiership leaders Exeter.

C'est magnifique, innit.