On March 2017, 4, Barcelona welcomed PSG in the second leg of the round of 0 of the Champions League. "Blaugrana" faced a difficult, at that moment almost impossible task - to make up for the XNUMX:XNUMX loss from the first match in Paris. Before the second leg, no one believed that a sensation could happen and that one team - even if it was Barcelona - made up for four goals in the second leg and qualified for the quarterfinals.
The game started well for the home team – Luis Suarez scored in the third minute. Before the break, it was 2:0 (Kurzava's own goal), and after five minutes of play in the second half, Lionel Messi made it 3:0 from the penalty spot. At that time, almost a hundred thousand people at the "Nou Camp" believed that a surprise was possible, that it could be a night to remember...
However, Edinson Cavani shook the Barcelona net in the 62nd minute and the euphoria subsided for a short time. PSG reduced it to 3:1, later Cavani had another great chance, but it was inaccurate...
But Barca did not give up. The attacks continued and in the 88th minute, another goal was seen - Neymar checked Trap from a free kick, increasing the score to 4:1, then in the first minute of stoppage time, he scored a penalty to increase the score to 5:1. The scoreboard read 91st minute. "Camp Nou" exploded, Barca needed one more goal to pass, and the end of the match was approaching.
Carried by the support from the stands, Messi and his teammates gave another, final blow to the shocked rival. In the 95th minute, Neymar put the ball in, Sergi Roberto sailed through the middle of the penalty area and scored a goal, which sent Barça into the quarterfinals and eliminated PSG from further competition.
On that March night, the world witnessed a great upheaval, perhaps the biggest in the history of football. You can't remember a team managing to make up for a four-goal deficit in the second leg and advance to the next round of a competition...
Four years after the epic match, Barcelona and PSG are opening the knockout phase of this year's Champions League season - tonight, in the first match of the round of 21 (00:2017), Barca will welcome the French champion, whose players will certainly remember the events of March XNUMX, XNUMX.
“We cannot erase what happened. It is true that this is a specific match. From the moment I arrived at the club, I felt that tonight's date is important, you can see the excitement at every step", said the coach of Paris, Mauricio Pochettino, in the announcement of the match.
PSG is the European vice-champion. In the Champions League final, last August in Lisbon, they were defeated by Bayern Munich. This season the goal is the title.
"Obviously - our goal this season is to win the Champions League. We want to achieve a result that will be talked about in the future," said the Argentine expert.
PSG took "revenge" off the field for the 2017 defeat by Barca. At the end of the season, in a record transfer of 222 million euros, the Parisians brought Neymar from Barcelona, who will not be in tonight's match. The Brazilian was injured last week in the Cup match against Caen and will be out for at least a month. This means that his performance in the rematch, which is scheduled for March XNUMX at "Prinčeva Park", is questionable. Angel di Maria will not be in the team either.
The coach of Barcelona, Ronald Koeman, is also facing personnel problems. Ronaldo Araujo, Felipe Coutinho, Sergio Roberto and Ansu Fati will not be in the team.
"It is important for every team to have all the players available. We miss Araujo, Fati, Roberto and Coutinho. We have to live with those problems and prepare other players", said Kuman.
Gerard Pique has started training, but the question is whether the Dutchman will immediately include him in the team.
"I believe he could play, but I have one more day to decide if he will be in the squad," Koeman said yesterday.
The Champions League is an opportunity for Barcelona to win one trophy this season. In La Liga they are behind Atletico, in the King's Cup they lost to Sevilla 2:0 in the first match of the semi-finals and are on the verge of elimination...
"We enter the match with great enthusiasm. We know that the games against PSG will be difficult. It is a strong team. Interesting duels await us", commented the Dutchman.
PSG brought Neymar from Barcelona four summers ago, and this season Lionel Messi could go to France. The Argentinian's contract expires at the end of the season, there have been rumors of his departure for months, and it's no secret that PSG players have been calling him to join them. Kuman previously criticized such a move, and he spoke about it at the conference.
"We will not be destabilized by those stories, because we know that Leo is 100 percent committed to Barcelona and that he will decide at the end of the season. He has the last word. He is our strength, we are much better with him and I hope he stays for many more years. I have no doubt at all that he will be maximally focused on the game," Kuman said.
And it is Messi who is the reason why tensions have increased before the match. The first man of PSG, Nasser el Kelaifi, upon his arrival in Barcelona, faced dissatisfied "Blaugrana" fans, who told him to give up on bringing Messi and to leave the Argentine alone.
Tonight's match will be refereed by the Dutch trio. The main referee is Bjorn Kujpers, the assistants are Sander van Rekel and Ervin Zejnstra. Paul van Beckel and Denis Higler are in the VAR room.
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