Last week, Barcelona won what is likely their biggest match of the last 4 years, and the upcoming match now breaks that record. The Montjuic, the temporary home of the Blaugrana as Camp Nou undergoes renovation, plays host to a massive match, one that’ll see Barcelona qualify to their first semi final since 2019, and that infamous tie against Liverpool. While Barcelona are halfway done, the hardest parts of the tie (on-paper) being complete after squeezing a comeback 3-2 win at the Parc-des-Princes, their first win at the ground since 2015, they are only halfway home. The match at the Montjuic will be the determining factor of the tie. What’s in it for Barca to get the victory? What are some PSG factors that Barcelona can exploit, what needs fixing, and what have we learned from the first leg last week? Let’s talk about it.
First, let’s look at some factors that Barcelona can exploit against this PSG team. The most obvious thing that we’ll likely see Xavi concentrating on is the full backs. In the first leg, with Nuno Mendes pushing forward into the attack as much as he did, it left Marquinhos, Hernandez, and Beraldo as a back 3 most of the time, something that Barcelona, and mostly Raphinha, exploited to no end. However, it could get even better for the Blaugrana as with Achraf Hakimi returning from suspension, we’ll likely see two full-backs pushing into attack, which is prime counter attack territory for Raphinha and Yamal, who’ll probably love that setup. PSG may also put in natural defensive midfielder Danilo Pereira at the CB position instead of Lucas Hernandez, making the defence even more attack-minded. If PSG situate their defence like this, it’ll be rife for swift counterattacks from Xavi’s men, which, again, is something we saw a lot in the first leg, with just Nuno Mendes as an attacking fullback.
Barcelona may also be able to exploit a lack of midfield stability. It’s likely that Enrique will put Vitinha in a deeper position, however, he is a midfielder who likes to push forward and get involved in the attack, which will likely make it so that there’s a lot of space between the PSG midfield and defence. As Xavi said in a recent interview, Raphinha is one of the best in the world at exploiting space, something which Barcelona emphasises in their classic style of play.
So, the style that we should see Barcelona playing, in my opinion, is counter-attack. However, what do Barca need to do if they want to nullify the PSG attack? Well, despite the first leg, the key to the attack is still Kylian Mbappe, and they need to keep man-marking him to their capacity in order to pacify Les Parisiens. Despite the 70-second span that saw PSG score twice against a half-asleep Barcelona, the truth is that their attack was impotent for long portions of the match.
While Barcelona’s defence was very solid for the vast majority of the match, when PSG brought on Bradley Barcola for Marco Asensio at half-time, Barca weren’t ready for it and you could see it. In that space of 70 seconds, the defence was very reactive, and let PSG do what they wanted in the box. That needs to be fixed, as we likely won’t see Marco Asensio start for PSG in this second leg after his lack of potency in the half that he did play.
Another thing that Barcelona needs to work on is the start of halves. For the first 15 minutes of both halves, PSG looked much the better team, and then Barcelona worked their way into the match, and showed the quality that they clearly possess. If Barcelona want to win this, they need to show control and maturity at the start of halves.
All in all, I do think Barcelona have a good shot in this second leg, especially considering a draw equals a win. There are some kinks that need to be addressed, for sure, but Xavi’s a competent manager, and I think we can definitely do it. I’m Jim James, until next time.