Mandatory comeback for PSG after its quarter-final first leg defeat against Barça

Beaten 3-2 at home on Wednesday, Luis Enrique’s team absolutely must win in Barcelona and only have six days to find the solution.

The history of football is a joke. Destiny continues to make the paths of Paris Saint-Germain and FC Barcelona cross. After the defeat of the capital club in the quarter-final first leg of the Champions League (2-3), Wednesday April 10, we will be treated to a 12th confrontation in just 11 years between the two clubs. A return match in Barcelona, ​​at Montjuic, which PSG will approach in an unfavorable position, that of the hunter, seven years after having been on the good side before suffering the famous “comeback”.

Next Tuesday, the capital club will not have four goals to come up with, but just one, to stay alive. On the other hand, he will have to flee to hostile terrain, at Montjuic, where Barça will be waiting for him, knowing full well that everything can turn around very quickly. “I’m happy and proud of my team. It’s true that we won an important away match, but we’re not at the end of the road. We still have a lot to do”took care to remind Catalan coach Xavi in ​​a post-match press conference.

Luis Enrique has ‘no doubts’ about his team

Opposite, Luis Enrique admitted that his team had suffered “a painful defeat”, but he did not deviate from his line. Since the start of the season, his speech has been determined not to leave room for this irrational pressure which had led PSG to memorable defeats on the European scene. “We had no problems managing emotions [dans ce match aller]. I’m happy with a lot of things I’ve seen. We have to think that the trip to Barcelona is a final and that we have to win it. I have no doubt that we can achieve this goal.”he developed.

Obviously, the Spanish technician did not want to reveal what he planned to improve for his team to get their ticket to the semi-finals. “It will come down to small details”, vaguely replied the one who was on the Barça bench during the comeback in 2017. No more talkative than usual, Luis Enrique did not speak out on the reasons to believe in it for his PSG. He only stressed that his players have not experienced the slightest defeat away in Ligue 1 this season, omitting to say that they have only won one match in four trips to C1 (at Real Sociedad in the previous round).

Few arguments are in favor of Paris Saint-Germain qualifying. Since moving to the Qatari flag in 2011, they have never managed to qualify after losing a first leg at home in the Champions League. Their eliminations against Barça, already, in 2015, then against Manchester City in 2021 and Bayern Munich in 2023 followed this trajectory. Each time, the return match resulted in a new defeat without managing to score a single goal.

The Parisian supporters – greeted by the players at the end of the match in an atmosphere far from gloomy – will be able to concentrate all their hopes on two points. The first is the fact that PSG seemed superior to Barça on several occasions on Wednesday evening. He shot himself in the foot somewhat because of approximations in defense. The second is this feeling that a new era has begun since the start of the season and this idea that the Parisian club is no longer Sisyphus, condemned to never succeed in pushing its rock to the top of the mountain. The luck for him is that the return match will not be played at high altitude but on the hill of Montjuic, just 185 meters above sea level. Nothing insurmountable for Kylian Mbappé and his teammates.