Barcelona must face tough opponents in the last 16 of the Champions League. According to the draw on Monday (14/12), Barcelona will meet Paris Saint-Germain (PSG).
Barcelona can only surrender ahead of the draw in Nyon, Switzerland. The failure to win Group G gave Ronald Koeman’s squad great potential against tough teams in the knockout phase.
Of the teams that won the group, only Borussia Dortmund was the weakest compared to other teams. However, Barcelona must accept the worst-case scenario with Les Parisiens.
PSG is clearly not a pleasant opponent for Barcelona. Even though in the last clash of the two teams, the Blaugrana escaped dramatically from PSG’s attack in the last 16 of the 2016/2017 season.
Barcelona lost 0-4 while playing at the Parc des Princes in the first leg. In the next leg, Barcelona made an extraordinary come back by winning 6-1 and qualifying for the quarter-finals.
However, the bitter story for PSG happened three years ago. Many things have happened internally in both teams.
Barcelona recently got worse. The desire of team captain Lionel Messi to leave Camp Nou at the end of last season was the climax of the problems that occurred in the Catalan team.
On the other hand, PSG is writing a beautiful story. Neymar is no longer interested in reuniting with Messi at Barcelona.
The Brazilian star is already happy at PSG and is working closely with Kylian Mbappe. The duo of Neymar and Mbappe presented many titles for PSG, while Messi was vacant last season.
Last season, the duo Neymar and Mbappe were even able to lead PSG to qualify for the Champions League final. Unfortunately at the top of the party, the team led by Thomas Tuchel had to admit Bayern Munich’s superiority with a score of 0-1.
Before coming out as champions, Munchen eliminated Barcelona in the quarter-finals. Die Roten won by a landslide score of 8-2 and made Barcelona be eliminated tragically.
The humiliating defeat also saw Barcelona’s relegation. The arrival of Koeman also did not mean that Messi et al could return to appear superior.
In fact, Barcelona struggled in the Spanish League by being ranked 8th in the standings. In Europe, Barcelona also recently lost 0-3 from Juventus so that they failed to finish as Group G.
PSG has a better score. Neymar et al are ranked third in the French League and qualify as group winners in the hell group which also contains RB Leipzig and Manchester United.
PSG’s superiority is not just a matter of their report cards in the domestic league and European competitions. From the aspect of the game, PSG is also much more convincing than Barcelona.
Together with Mbappe and Neymar, PSG is one of the most feared teams in Europe. These two players along with other PSG players form a solid unit thanks to Tuchel’s concoctions.
Mbappe and Neymar look easy to mess up the opponent’s defense. The PSG front line duo is also supported by players such as Angel Di Maria, Marco Veratti, Mauro Icardi, and Marquinhos.
While Barcelona is like walking in place. Barcelona no longer appear with a terrifying attacking game like the Pep Guardiola or Tito Vilanova era.
Under Koeman era, Barcelona tended to play pragmatically and did not attach importance to beautiful games. In Koeman’s concept, three points are more important than the game itself.
However, this approach cannot be said to be successful. Barcelona remains problematic with consistency and is still too dependent on Messi, who continues to aged.
The star players in the team like Antoine Griezmann or Philippe Coutinho cannot lift the team’s performance. Ansu Fati’s injury also reduced Barcelona’s strength.
With the current condition of the two teams, Barcelona should be introspective. Collector of five Champions League titles is currently at a level that is not on par with PSG.
Therefore, Barcelona must be ready to languish against PSG. Neymar will smile at the end of the match. Meanwhile, Messi must be ready to bow again because he failed to bring Barcelona back to the Champions League since he last did it in 2015, when he was still able to work with Neymar on the field.
