Report by Madi Williamson
Luis Suarez dazzled for Barcelona and now Laurent Blanc’s men have an overwhelming deficit to overcome in Barcelona in one week’s time.
Paris Saint-Germain 1-3 Barcelona
A brilliant Barcelona were just too much for Laurant Blanc’s depleted side to handle on Wednesday night. Lacking lots of their usual starters, including the controversial but effective Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the home side’s patched up squad struggled to deal with the passing game of their visitors and the individual brilliance of Messi and Suarez.
With just eighteen minutes gone, after several attempts at goal that were kept at bay with frantic defending and some good saves from Siguru, Neymar found the back of the net following an amazing play from Barcelona’s star-studded attacking unit. The young Brazilian found himself with some space and time in front of the goal after Barcelona’s quick passing had broken PSG’s defense down and he made no mistake, slotting a low shot under Siguru. While their defense had crumbled, PSG looked good going forward. Pastore was brilliant in the attack, but the once brilliant Edinson Cavani, Ibrahimovic’s replacement up top, was a train wreck. Early on, Cavani’s poor decision making blew fantastic buildups from PSG.
Things went from bad to worse for PSG when Thiago Silva, the goalscoring hero who’s extra-time header against Chelsea carried them through to the quarter-finals, pulled up lame following Neymar’s goal. He was replaced by fellow Brazilian David Luiz with just twenty minutes gone. Luiz was expected to miss both fixtures due to a hamstring injury but Blanc had little choice but to call upon the center-back when his captain came off injured. David Luiz played out the first half without a problem. Barcelona seemed content with the lead and patiently worked the ball while PSG struggled to make the most of their time with it. They pushed hard and looked threatening as they approached the box but poor Cavani was absolutely useless in the area and all of the home side’s perfectly orchestrated buildups in the first half were in vain.
Coming out of the break, Blanc’s men looked a little more inspired and played with more urgency. Barcelona’s top pick in goal for European matches, the German Marc-Andre ter Stegen, was forced into action but had no problem cleaning up the messes that his defense made. Gerard Pique was playing his 300th match for the club, but it was not a game for him to remember. He was twice undone by a brilliant Pastore and Mascherano or ter Stegen were left to pick up the pieces. PSG looked like the more dangerous side in their attacking third, but it was a streak of brilliance from Luis Suarez that reasserted Barcelona’s dominance.
In the 67th minute, Suarez made easy work of a hapless David Luiz and fired a strong shot home. Siguru’s fingertips were not enough to keep the ball out of the net. Paris’s response was the first on-target shot from Cavani, but ter Stegen produced a strong save to keep the rocket shot out of his net. Barcelona rolled with the momentum of Suarez’s goal. Messi had a crack after he dribbled through Paris’s entire back line but his shot went just over. It was Suarez’s second streak of brilliance on the night that finished PSG and their hopes of bringing a good result with them to Spain. Once again the Uruguayan easily cut through the defense, once again nutmegged David Luiz, and once again fired one home. His performance on the night was nothing short of outstanding.
Barca were the only ones to find the back of the net, even in their own half. A frustrated shot from Paris right-back Gregory van der Wiel was deflected off of Mathieu and was in the back of the net before ter Stegen could react. The visitors were not at all phased by the mishap and continued to play their passing game. Two minutes from time Cavani had another decent crack at goal but luck was not on his side and the scramble in Barcelona’s box resulted in a goal kick. PSG have a monstrous mountain to climb if they wish to reach the semi-finals. They will need to score at least three goals, no easy task at the Camp Nou.
