Barcelona vs PSG (Paris Saint-German) has become one of the most highly anticipated matchups in world football and Tuesday’s clash did not disappoint, not if you are a PSG fan at least. The final score was 4-1 in favour of the visitors PSG and immediately fans began to draw parallels between this match and the clashes of 2017 that birthed this new rivalry. Well, 4 goals are the common denominators between the 2 opening matches as now the hosts are reciprocated. Additionally, this time Barcelona did manage to score one goal courtesy of a penalty conversion by Lionel Messi on the 27th minute.
In any case, 2017’s clash saw Barcelona suffer a horrid 4-0 defeat in the first leg only to respond miraculously with a 6-1 win in the second leg of the clash. Football fans and pundits alike labelled this biggest comeback in champions league history. One would suppose that is the silver lining for Barcelona fans following a somewhat similar defeat yesterday.
Yesterday’s match commenced well for Barcelona as they managed an early goal and in classic Catalan style, they began to dominate possession. This continued until PSG talisman Kylian Mbappé interjected with a thunderous strike on the 32nd minute making it 1-1.
Mbappé went on to score twice more in the second half completing his hattrick while nullifying Barcelona’s hopes of a comeback. Moments thereafter, Moise Kean concluded the scoring for the fixture. The endgame stats did justice in summarising the affair as it was all in favour of PSG with one exception being total ball possession which went to Barcelona as expected.
Based on the precedent set in 2017, Barcelona fans fancy their chances of a comeback in the second leg as now they even have a one-goal cushion. However, football fans know this is no easy feat to accomplish and might even echo cliches like “once bitten twice shy “. Moreover, PSG fans will argue that the squad was not even at full capacity as ex-Barcelona gem Neymar was out injured. Neymar is expected to return in time for the 2nd leg in Paris.
Will PSG finally land their shot at retribution or will Barcelona make the impossible a regularity?
Nobody knows for certain. However, we haven’t much longer to wait as all this will be decided on March 10, 2021, when the two lock horns in Paris for the 2nd leg.
