After a thrilling remontada against Sevilla to reach the finals of the Copa del Rey, Barcelona now looks to repeat their heroic performance against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League second-leg in Parc des Princes.
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While everyone knows that PSG are a much better side than Sevilla, the momentum from their latest victory will definitely motivate the Barca squad to give it their all against the French giants.
The Catalan side already have the experience of doing the impossible against the Parisians as they have already achieved a history 6-1 remontada after the initially 4-0 defeat in the 2016/17 Champions League campaign.
Though the Barca under Luis Enrique greatly differs from that of Ronald Koeman, it is not an impossible task especially as they do have 1 goal to their name. The Catalans must now manage to beat PSG 0-4, 1-5, 2-6 and so on if they want to continue their dream of winning the Champions League.
Koeman’s side must not only repeat the attacking mindset that they showed against Sevilla but also be defensively unbreakable. Unfortunately for the Catalans, PSG’s attack is a lot stronger than Sevilla’s with Neymar, Kylian Mbappe, and Moise Kean.
Reports, however, now suggest that the Catalans have been handed a major boost for their comeback as both Neymar and Kean are set to miss the second-leg clash. Le Parisien reports that while Neymar is feeling optimistic about featuring against the Spanish giants, coach Mauricio Pochettino is against the idea of risking him.
The Brazilian is keen on featuring against his former side but the Argentine coach believes that featuring him now, especially with a massive lead to their name, would be a mistake and any further injury to the Brazilian will rule him out for the next round of the Champions League. Thus it will be extremely unlikely that the Brazilian is risked.
Meanwhile, Kean is set to miss the return leg after testing positive for COVID-19 with the French side only having Kylian Mbappe as their main threat against Barca. While PSG have Mauro Icardi, Pablo Sarabia, and Julian Draxler in addition to Mbappe, that is an attacking lineup that the Barca defense could potentially shut-down.
It remains to be seen how Pochettino builds his squad for Barca, but fans will be delighted to know that Lionel Messi and co. will not drop out of the Champions League without a fight.
Will Barca manage a remontada against PSG?