Cyrille de la Morinerie / Photo credit: JOSE BRETON / NURPHOTO / NURPHOTO VIA AFP
Beaten in the quarter-final first leg by FC Barcelona at the Parc des Princes (2-3), Paris Saint-Germain travels to Catalonia on Tuesday evening for the return match. In an unfavorable situation, the capital club nevertheless has many assets to turn things around and climb into the last four.
This is a statistic that will not reassure Parisian supporters. In the Champions League, no French team has qualified after losing the first leg at home. This Tuesday, Paris Saint-Germain therefore has the opportunity to enter the history of French football. The capital club, beaten last Wednesday in the quarter-final first leg by FC Barcelona at the Parc des Princes (2-3), will have to win in Catalonia to hope to reach the last four of the competition.
To achieve this, Luis Henrique’s men will have to do much better than last week. They will be able to count in particular on the return of Moroccan defender Achraf Hakimi, suspended during the first leg. The former Real Madrid player showed his optimism at a press conference this Monday afternoon. “We really want to change things compared to the first leg. We come here to win and bring victory back to Paris,” he promises.
A late goal to make up for
PSG has many resources to reverse the situation, including the former Barcelona player, Ousmane Dembélé, or, of course, Kylian Mbappé, who will undoubtedly be keen to show a different face after a missed match at the Parc des Princes last Wednesday. . Especially since Paris only has one goal to make up for.
“It’s not impossible. Barcelona will have the ball, but that doesn’t matter. The Parisians must be able to take advantage of recoveries to hurt them with the speed of their attackers”, analyzes Alain Giresse, former international French and Europe 1 consultant.
1,500 Parisian fans are due to leave this Monday evening from the Parc des Princes to head to the Monjuïc Olympic stadium, located on the heights of Barcelona. They will travel all night and be ready Tuesday evening to support their team.