Barcelona secured a fantastic 3-2 victory over Paris Saint-Germain in their own back yard on Wednesday, which sets them up nicely to progress to the Champions League semi-finals, although that will not be decided until after next week’s second leg at the Estadi Olimpic in Montjuic.
Xavi Hernandez played a big role in securing the victory for his side, as substitutes Pedri (assist) and Andreas Christensen (winning goal) played a big part in the success. On the other hand, PSG manager Luis Enrique has been criticised by French football expert Jonathan Johnson (via CaughtOffside) for his tactics during the defeat.
“Playing Lucas Hernandez on the right-hand side of central defence really didn’t work out at all, but to be fair to him that’s partly because Lucas Beraldo was in real difficulty for much of the match. Still, for Hernandez to then also be playing in a position he’s not really familiar with or been used in that often didn’t help PSG.
“Enrique then made some in-game decisions to try and change these strange choices he made in his starting XI, with Marquinhos playing central in the second half, while Hernandez got moved to right-back, which is a bit baffling as he normally plays left-back. This completely destabilised the defence, so it’s not too surprising that the stand-out performer in PSG’s defence was Nuno Mendes, who made a very good block on the line from a Robert Lewandowski header.
“The biggest surprise, however, was going without Warren Zaire-Emery from the start – obviously Enrique did bring him on in the second half, but it looks like a mistake not to start him. Ousmane Dembele also played out wide despite being used to quite good effect through the middle this season, while one of the most bizarre decisions of all was probably using Marco Asensio as a sort of wild card false-nine. He was then hooked at half time because it was not the most convincing performance from him, and I think all of that contributed towards Kylian Mbappe not really being able to get into the game, and it was one of the weakest performances of his season so far.
“There were some bright spots, with Vitinha scoring and looking very good, but the result leaves PSG with a lot to do as they head to the Nou Camp for the second leg. Overall PSG probably aren’t out of this tie yet, and credit to Barcelona for a very good performance, but there are certainly questions there that need answering by Luis Enrique.”
Lucho will have the chance to make things right next week, but Barcelona are undoubtedly in the driving seat, and should they avoid defeat on Tuesday, they will be in the Champions League semi-finals against either Atletico Madrid or Borussia Dortmund.
