PSG TRIUMPHS AT CAMP NOU
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PRE-MATCH ANALYSIS & LINEUP
The highly anticipated Uefa Champions league round of 16 was finally here last night. Lots of expectations were in place as both fans had very good squad who were capable of coming out victorious. Unfortunately PSG's darling boy Neymar was out of the picture due to a sustained injury.
Although this was a great loss, they still had a really good lineup with Mauro Icardi playing up top as a striker, including greats like Mbappe, Verratti and Kean next in line. It was good to also see a controlling Iddisa Gana Gueye in the midfield too. He always seems to spice up the forward runs. I also liked their defense.
PSG's lineup
Barcelona's set was quite good too looking at the way they have been picking up as a team with good understanding of each player's movement. Ronald Koeman seems to like many youngsters in his set due to the current level of the game. This is why he released even good players like Arturo Vidal, Rakitic, Semedo and Louis Suarez. However at times experience also counts especially when it comes to the UCL.
Still, Barca's lineup looked solid with Lionel Messi, Griezman and Dembele playing up top. De Jong, Busquets and Pedri were also in the midfield. I must say the defense Barca presented was the best they could have brought with Jordi Alba, Lenglet, Pique and Dest in position.
Barca's lineup
KICK OFF
The match kicked off to a bright start with both sides seeing some good amount of possession. PSG could have grabbed an early goal if Mauro Icardi had converted the chance he got right in the 18 yard box. He was one-on-one with Ter Stegen and should have really done better. It wasn't long till De Jong was fouled afterwards by an accidental contact in the 18 yard box that tripped him. This gave Barca the first opportunity to take the lead with a penalty which was converted by Messi.
Penalty converted by Messi
That seemed to be the only shining moment for the Barcelona team since almost the entire rest of the matches were dominated by PSG. Mbappe seemed to be no match for Barcelona's defense. I also noticed that the defense from the forward to the midfield was very poor as the ball quickly moved from that place to their end zone. This is exactly why teams need the more experienced players to keep urging their team to play well.
The american star, Desk was really doing well to cover the right back and overlapping from time to time. However if the pressure is too much he is likely to fall out of place which was exactly what afforded Kylian the green space to run in behind, dribbling Lenglet and ended up with a nice goal.
Mbappe celebrating his goal
The first half ended with a draw. For the second half, it simply looked like men against boys since Paris Saint Germain really dominated the game. The front 3 had a good understanding of each other's positions and movements and simply moved swiftly from end to end. To me, Barcelona got lucky even with the 4-1 defeat as it could have gotten really worst had they not had a keeper like Ter Stegen in the post.
Ronald Koeman really needs to restructure his side if he has any hopes of coming back strong and perhaps qualifying for the quater finals of the Champions league.
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Unless otherwise stated, all images were taken whiles watching the game at home. Thank you for your attention.
very bad day for barcelona fans
I feel Barcelona is going to pull a surprise in the second leg, either win big or lose horribly