Barcelona shredded apart by Paris St. Germain, lose 4-0 in Champions League
Paris St Germain will have a four goal lead in their advantage when they play travel to Barcelona for the second leg. (Source: Reuters) Paris St Germain will have a four goal lead in their advantage when they play travel to Barcelona for the second leg. (Source: Reuters)
The players that played for Barcelona would be those of the few who say that they had a Valentine’s night to forget at Paris. On Wednesday, the Catalan giants were shredded apart defensively as they lost 4-0 to Paris St. Germain at the Parc des Princes.
Barcelona did look second best right from the beginning of the game as they were constantly caught out by the devastating pace of Angel Di Maria and Julian Draxler on the counter. The Argentine winger started the scoring for the home side with a lovely free kick goal. Their one goal lead was then extended when Julian Draxler got in behind the Barcelona defence and scored his first European goal in PSG colours. But for Barcelona, the night was only going to get worse.
In the second half, PSG came out with all guns blazing and were soon rewarded with a third goal. It was Di Maria yet again and this time, he managed to fid the back of the net from outside the box. The Barcelona shoulders started drooping at that point and the Parc des Princes crowd roared in ecstacy. Angel Di Maria was taken off soon enough and the home fans gave the Argentine, who was celebrating his 29th birthday a standing ovation. Barcelona tried to take some measure of control back after that point but were put down once again when the other birthday boy, Edinson Cavani, scored the fourth for PSG.
If there is any team in the world that can come down from a four-goal-deficit, it is Barcelona and Unai Emery will be weary of that when they travel to Nou Camp for the second leg next month. If they do hold out, they would have exacted revenge on Barcelona who have knocked them out of the Champions League at the quarter final stage in 2013 and 2015. It will also be the first time since 2006/07 season that Barcelona will knocked out of the Champions League in the round of 16.
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