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Paris Saint-Germain did the unthinkable and defeated Barcelona with 4-0, leaving Football pundits haywired. PSG were knocked out of the UEFA Champions League by Barcelona in 2013 and 2015 and everyone thought that history would repeat itself but this was the game where performance mattered, rather than the history.
Barcelona’s trip to Parc des Princes for the round of 16 ended up in a disaster as they were consistently outplayed by the all-round performance from PSG’s attack and defense. One of the biggest talking point of the Paris Saint-Germain 4-0 Barcelona was the midfield domination of the hosts. While all the praises might go to the trio of Julian Draxler, Angel Di Maria and Edinson Cavani for exceptional goals that trashed Barcelona, the turning point was the game was the midfield run.
Marco Verratti lived upto the expectations as the Frenchman’s distribution and movement were outstanding and unparalleled through the game. Blaise Matuidi and Adrien Rabiot showed great maturity and their tireless tactics paralysed Andres Iniesta and Lionel Messi from attacking through the centre.
Luis Enrique’s side now requires a never seen, unprecedented and magical comeback to remain in the competition after being through the biggest upset in modern football.
PSG’s manager Unai Emery, on the other hand, will be cherishing the moment as after facing Barcelona in the last decade and locking horns in 23 games, this is only the second time that his team has defeated the Catalans. Emery always tend to go with a packed midfield against Barcelona, leaving the players struggling for space and this has been a constant in his tenure with Almeria, Valencia, Sevilla and now Paris Saint-Germain.
Meanwhile, Barcelona would be finding an answer to ‘what went wrong’ in the inaugural round of 16 game and the world’s best attacking trio of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar Jr. would be dressing the wound, that’s gonna take a long time to heal.
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