Wednesday 8th March 2016 Kickoff: 1945hrs Barcelona v PSG Football – Europe – Champions League As suggested in my preview for the Arsenal game, no team has ever come back from a first leg four goal deficit but unlike the Gunners, with Barcelona you feel that if there is a team who is capable of making history, it could well be Barcelona. The Spanish champions were well and truly thumped in Paris by a team who were in no way flattered by the final score. However, there have been positive vibes coming out the Nou Camp in recent days and confidence must be building that they can pull of an extraordinary comeback.
The first leg look to signal the end of Luis Enrique’s reign as his team looked clueless and out of ideas in an attacking sense, whilst being completely unorganized and lacking discipline defensively. Lucho has since confirmed that this will be his last season in charge of the club making way for a new man to take over this summer. That news was little surprise but the response from his team in Saturday’s demolition of Celta in La Liga, was. The 5-0 win is not surprising in itself but the performance was akin to what we were treated to in the head coach’s first season in charge when he led Barca to a treble. It was full of pressing, intensity and no lack of quality as Messi and Neymar set the tone for the rest of the team. In many ways it was the perfect game ahead of Wednesday’s second leg as it reminded everybody – particularly the players – just how good this team actually are. And whilst they will be up against it to turn things around in the tie, they are equipped as well as any team to claw this back.
PSG could not have wished for a better performance of outcome in the first leg. In a season where they have not looked as composed or effective domestically, their dominance may even have surprised themselves. Unai Emery has come in for some criticism since taking over in the summer as the French champions have struggled to keep pace with leaders Monaco and could only finish second in their Champions League group. It makes the first leg performance all that more impressive but he will know all too well from his time coaching in Spain that the job is certainly not complete. The PSG supporters would have hoped that the 4-0 win against Barca would have seen them kick on and find the consistency that has been missing all season, but in their very next league game the Parisians were held to a goalless draw at home to Toulouse. Emery will be drilling it into his players that the level of performance simply has to be similar to the first leg and nothing like the lackadaisical display they turned out in their next game. If it is the former then PSG will be confident of scoring such are their options in attack and that would almost certainly see them progress to the next stage.
Barcelona v PSG Betting Tip
The Nou Camp has played host to many astonishing nights both in domestic and European football. In recent times it has seen Barca knock five past Real Madrid as well as brush aside countless visiting teams in the latter stages of this very competition with minimal fuss. There’s no doubt that it is a setting befitting of history and if Barcelona are to play in the quarter finals then it will simply have to happen again – as unlikely as that is. Barca never done themselves justice in the first leg – far from it – and will have to ensure they not only are at their formidable best going forward, but that they are also much better defensively than in Paris where PSG carved them open at will on many occasions. The visitors have a tactically astute manager who will look to make it as difficult as possible for their hosts. Despite that, the personnel is such that the this team’s natural tendency is to attack.
For all of Barcelona’s superiority against Celta at the weekend they still offered plenty of chances and a better team will take at least a couple of them which leads me to think that we’ll see a dramatic turnaround in terms of the tie. I fully expect Barca to score at least two goals in this one, and in all likelihood even reach the four goals they need, but I am far less certain they can keep the likes of Cavani, Di Maria and Draxler out at the other end. For the neutral I expect this will be a game to savour with plenty of goals – unfortunately for Barcelona and their supporters it will be at both ends with the home team taking the spoils.
Barcelona to win and both teams to score 8/5 @ Paddy Power
