Introduction
Barcelona travels to Paris to face a strong Paris St. Germain(PSG) for the UCL 2ND LEG, with little Hope of doing another Remontada. Having lost the 1st leg by a humiliating scoreline of 4-1, Barcelona will be looking to try and make amends. However, the chances of them making a comeback is nil.
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Ronald Koeman’s men have been in a good form domestically post their loss to PSG, having won their last four games in all competitions without conceding a goal. However, you certainly cannot expect them to score 4 goals without conceding any against a strong PSG side led by the man in form, Kylian Mbappe.
Why to Watch
Barcelona are high on confidence right now and they’ll be looking to repeat their Magical Remontada feat which they achieved in 2016-17 season with a similar loss in the 1st leg. Both the Teams got good victories before this game. Barcelona having sealed a comfortable 2-0 victory away at Osasuna to put the pressure on league leaders Atletico Madrid and PSG having seen of a 3-0 victory to Brest in the Coupe De France.
Build up
One good hope for Fc Barcelona fans will be that the team has had a very good away form this season, barring a lose away to Atletico Madrid, they’ve had a commendable away form. PSG meanwhile, lost to Monaco in their last home game, and are at a risk of losing back to back home games for the first time ever since 2009. PSG also head into the second leg having scored 22 times in a row on home soil in the Champions League – a run dating all the way back to 2015 – while Real Madrid were the last team to keep a clean sheet at the Parc des Princes against them in October of that year.
Barcelona head into this game having garnered four consecutive wins across all competitions – scoring 10 goals and conceding zero in that run – and after an beautiful Copa del Rey comeback against Sevilla, Koeman’s side had the last laugh in a 2-0 victory over Osasuna in La Liga. Messi registered his 11th assist 35th goal contribution of the season in that game, again leading all the charts as Jordi Alba and Ilaix Moriba scored.
The Blaugranas have come up trumps in just one of their last nine Champions League(UCL) knockout matches, having suffered back-to-back defeats to Juventus and PSG in this season’s tournament, Barcelona could record a hat trick of successive defeats in the Champions League (UCL) for the first time ever.
Team News
Neymar has been ruled out for the clash and he’ll be watching the game from the comfortable stands. Moise Kean, who scored in the first leg will also not be available for this game. It’ll be Mbappe, Icardi and Di Maria leading the line for PSG. Mbappe made history in the first leg as he became only the third player to score a hat trick against Fc Barcelona in the Camp Nou, following Faustino Asprilla and Andriy Shevchenko. If he scores one more goal, he will also become the youngest player to reach 25 goals in the prestigious tournament, a record currently held by Lionel Messi.
Barcelona have their defensive issues worsened with both Gerard Pique and Ronald Araujo ruled out for the clash. Sergi Roberto, Ansu Fati and Phillippe Coutinho aren’t expected to be back sooner for the Blaugranas. Jordi Alba, who fell on his arm in the clash against Osasuna, is available for the game.
Ronald Koeman has experimented with his starting line-up and gone with 3 at the back in the last 3 games. This has certainly paid dividends as Barcelona haven’t conceded a single goal in these 3 games.
Paris Saint-Germain Champions League form:
- W-L-W-W-W-W
Paris Saint-Germain form (all competitions):
- W-W-L-W-W-W
Barcelona Champions League form:
- W-W-W-W-L-L
Barcelona form (all competitions):
- L-D-W-W-W-W
Line ups
Ronald Koeman is again expected to go with the same formation and team that faced Osasuna, with only change coming in form of Ousmane Dembele, the man in form to start up ahead of Antoine Griezmann.
PSG
Possible starting line-up
Formation – 4-3-3
GK-Navas
Defence- Florenzi, Marquinhos, Kimpembe, Kurzawa
Midfield- Gueye, Paredes ,Verratti,
Attack- Mbappe , Icardi ,Di Maria
Barcelona
Possible starting lineup
Formation – 3-5-2
GK- Ter Stegen;
Defence- Mingueza, Lenglet, Umtiti;
Midfield- Dest, De Jong, Busquets, Pedri , Alba;
Attack- Messi, Dembele
Players to Watch
Barcelona
Lionel Messi
The man is in explosive form. He will be looking to lead the line against PSG and cause them all the damage he can. Mesi has been in an amazing form. He hasn’t scored in the past 2 matches, but his creative abilities have done the work.
Ousmane Dembele
The guy in red hot form. He scored an explosive goal against Sevilla which marked the comeback of Barcelona. Dembele was on the bench against Osasuna but he will surely start this game. He will also be looking to amend the mistake he did in the first leg, which cost Barcelona a goal.
Clement Lenglet
What do we say about the guy who has arguably received the most criticism in the past few weeks? With the absence of Ronald Araujo and Gerard Pique, the onus will be on him to lead his defense and keep a cool head and not leak goals. Barcelona fans will be hoping he replicates the performance of his 1st season and shows what an able defender he is.
PSG
Kylian Mbappe
The man with the world at his feet. He scored a brace in the win against Brest and he will be looking to do more damage to Barcelona as he did in the 1st leg. With his abilities, the Barcelona defense will always be petrified and he surely knows how to Take Advantage of it.
Kimpembe
He will have a tough job. He’ll have to stop an in-form Barcelona attack of Lionel Messi and Ousmane Dembele. He did a wonderful job in the 1st leg and will now again look to repeat the same feat and keep the Barcelona attack at bay.
Leonardo Paredes
The Argentine scored in the win against Brest. He will drop to the midfield and run the game against the Blaugranas. He had an excellent outing in the first leg and he’ll be looking to replicate the same performance again.
Conclusion and Prediction
A Remontada is surely not possible but Barcelona, given the form they are in, will sneak up a victory however which won’t be enough for them to progress to the next round. Our prediction, PSG 1 – 2 Fc Barcelona
Will FC Barcelona perform another Remontada, or will Mbappe led Paris Saint Germain finally get rid off their bottlers tag?
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