Barça were first to score; they took an early lead via a Ferran Torres goal. After PSG midfielder Vitinha turned the ball over, Barça put together a move that culminated in Marcus Rashford sending a ball across the penalty area to Torres who had no trouble putting the ball into the bottom corner. PSG would score the equalizer seven minutes before half-time after Nuno Mendes beat three defenders before setting up Senny Mayulu who went on to find the back of the net.
Although PSG had the majority of the possession and goalscoring chances for most of the second half, neither side was able to make a breakthrough until the very last minute of regulation time. PSG's Gonçalo Ramos, who had been substituted into the match just 18 minutes prior, took advantage of the suboptimal placement of Barça's high line to make it two wins out of two matches for PSG. This victory also meant that PSG have now won three consecutive away Champions League matches at Barça with a combined scoreline of 10-3.
One of the main storylines heading into this match was the fact that it would arguably lay down an early marker with regard to the question of who the team to beat in this season's Champions League was. This sentiment was further strengthened by several underlying narratives. First and foremost, this was billed as a match between the two players who recently finished first and second in the Ballon d'Or voting for the 2024-25 season: award winner Ousmane Dembélé of PSG and runner-up Lamine Yamal of Barça. In addition, prior to the match, Barça midfielder Pedri claimed that his Blaugrana team was the world's best.
Adding another layer to the match was the fact that PSG would be without all of their usual starting front three due to injuries: Dembélé, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, and Désiré Doué. Notably, the latter two even had realistic chances to have won the Ballon d'Or instead of Démbélé. As such, this was a major opportunity for the Catalan club to make a clear statement that they were indeed the biggest threat to win it all.
Instead, the exact opposite sequence of events took place. If anything, the only thing that Pedri managed to do was to "poke the bear"; it was evident that PSG were even more fired up by the Canarian's remarks and were intent on proving him wrong. Ramos confirmed that such was the case after the match, making remarks that were clearly intended as a clapback towards Pedri's.
On top of that, what should come as even more of a concern to every team with hopes of toppling the reigning European champions is the fact that an under-strength PSG just beat what's likely one of the top five teams in the world right now. PSG won last season's Champions League not on the back of the pure star power which they'd depended on in past years only to come up short every single time, but by way of "strength in numbers" - an idea which Luis Enrique has clearly made the foundation of this team. It was anything but the "let the superstars cook" approach that they'd tried before, and it seems to once again be highly effective.
It's of course way too early to say that PSG will win the Champions League again. However, all of the other main contenders with the exception of Bayern Munich have shown evidence of vulnerabilities at some point this season. In fact, there's a case to be made that PSG are even better this season than last - a remarkable turnaround for a club which was once a mere punchline in continental play for their repeated failures when the pressure was at its highest.
There's no question that any club intent on denying Paris Saint-Germain consecutive Champions League titles will have quite the task. It has to be reiterated: PSG just beat Barcelona without any of their starting front three.
No comments:
Post a Comment