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FC Barcelona are coming off a memorable win over Milan in the UEFA Champions League but still need to improve defensively if they’re secure a positive result away to Paris St Germain in the quarter-finals. Join us for live scores and commentary from 5.45am AEDT.
Barcelona produced a performance for the ages against Milan in the round of sixteen, turning a 2-0 deficit into a 4-2 aggregate victory.
Despite beating Milan 4-0 in the second leg, Barcelona were still quite fortunate to go through given the amount of chances that Milan squandered in the second leg.
Had M’Baye Niang managed to score when he was through one on one against Valdez in the first half, it could have very well been Milan playing PSG in the quarter-finals.
Barcelona on the other hand was clinical in front of goal and managed to rediscover their attacking spark after some very lean performances by their standards.
Lionel Messi in particular rose to the occasion against Milan, scoring two wonderful goals to get Barcelona back into the tie.
The little Argentine was back to his best against the Serie A giants and managed to thrive playing in behind Spanish striker David Villa.
For all their strong performances at home however, Barcelona have been very suspect playing abroad and face a tough ask against a PSG team with plenty of strikepower.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Ezequiel Lavezzi are two of the best strikers in world football and possess the speed and skill to tear Barcelona apart on the counter should the Spanish giants press high up the pitch.
Barcelona should have learnt many hard lessons from their first leg debacle at the San Siro against Milan and need to show PSG’s strikers respect.
Lucas Moura and midfielder Javier Pastore are the other key players that Barcelona need to keep an eye on tonight.
Pastore in particular really needs to rise to the occasion for PSG after a lean showing against Valencia in the round of sixteen.
The Argentine is a very talented footballer and possesses a similar playing style to that of Brazilian and Real Madrid midfielder Kaka.
If he fires tonight, PSG will cause Barcelona’s defence huge problems at home and they may very well go on to secure a first leg advantage.
Failure to rise to the occasion however and PSG’s attack will blunt, much like it did when they hosted Valencia several weeks back.
In defence, Brazilian trio Maxwell, Alex and Thiago Silva will need to be on song to stop Barcelona quartet Messi, Andres Iniesta, Xavi and Villa.
Villa should be expected to start tonight given that his presence against Milan provided Messi with enough room to showcase his attacking talents.
If Messi does score tonight, the Argentine invariably goes on to dominate matches and could take the tie away from PSG in the first leg if the French club is not careful.
With both teams blessed with fine footballers, this should be an absorbing tie played at a fast pace.
Although PSG certainly have the striker power to score goals, a well structured Barcelona should do enough to secure a score draw.
PSG and Barcelona to draw 2-2.