CL quarters: Barca - PSG 2-0 (5-1 agg.)

Barcilliant

Senior Member
I was thinking about posting those disastrous results as well, but since the discussion revolved around Pep, I thought I had to restrict myself to his four years with us. But nice of you to point out our persistent underachieving in CL away games until :lucho: came along.

In fact, I would say that Suarez and Neymar are the real X-factor here.

That's true. Neymar and Suarez are in a different class to Sanchez and Pedro. However our midfield was better then too.
 

Sumlit

San Claudio Bravo
I was thinking about posting those disastrous results as well, but since the discussion revolved around Pep, I thought I had to restrict myself to his four years with us. But nice of you to point out our persistent underachieving in CL away games until :lucho: came along.

In fact, I would say that Suarez and Neymar are the real X-factor here.

Funny how quality striking partners make a difference, weird that. If its not one, is the other. Messi can actually read the game now and fill out what he deems the team is lacking for the match, as oppose to before he needed to score or Barca were fucked.
 

Barcilliant

Senior Member
Luis Enrique:

We were focused, had possession and were good in defence. We made a lot of chances and were solid. We need to look to win the return match and avoid any surprises. We have been consistent in every department. We enjoyed most of the possession, like we wanted to, and we managed to vary our attacks.

Luis Suárez was both physically strong and technically agile, but I want to stress that all my players were very good today. When we play like that, we're very difficult to beat.

It's true that Paris will have several key players back for the second leg who were absent today. It will be a tough match, for sure. We have seen all sorts of scenarios in football, so we will not make the mistake of thinking it's over and qualification is a given.
We'll have the same goal as we do in every match: to win.

I have to congratulate the players. It's a big win for us and I think it was deserved. They tried to cause us problems and their goal came through a bit of luck, but these things happen in football.

Good to see Lucho communicate better nowadays.
 

StarLord

New member
Funny how quality striking partners make a difference, weird that. If its not one, is the other. Messi can actually read the game now and fill out what he deems the team is lacking for the match, as oppose to before he needed to score or Barca were fucked.

Has always been my position, and I have been highly critical of our non-Messi attackers for ages. Before our board finally saw the light and spend mountains of euros in order to bring what we badly needed: attacking players worthy of sharing the pitch with Messi.

The reason why I made that banal clarification was because maybe some people would not detect that my :lucho: comment was humorous. It is always the players that are the number one factor in football, however the media and some football fans like to spin the facts sometimes.
 

gatsu

New member
Great performance in Paris. It was a depleted PSG squad but I can't take anything away from Lucho's men. We struggled more under Pep in away CL knock-out matches.

Suarez, Macherano and Busquets were standout players for me. Followed by Pique and Neymar.
Also good news was that Alves' absence wasn't even noticeable.

Lucho said the tie isn't over and while I do think that with Verratti and Ibra PSG will look much better, I don't think we should worry much.

Can't agree with that.

Our right wIng was nonexistent, more than that, because of Alves absence, Messi played mostly in the middle which is less efficient under Lucho's tactical system.
 

StarLord

New member
Can't agree with that.

Our right wIng was nonexistent, more than that, because of Alves absence, Messi played mostly in the middle which is less efficient under Lucho's tactical system.

Very interesting points made there. Alves has always been a pillar for Messi, that is definitely true.
 

khaled_a_d

Senior Member
Can't agree with that.

Our right wIng was nonexistent, more than that, because of Alves absence, Messi played mostly in the middle which is less efficient under Lucho's tactical system.

MSN switch places all the time and that happened a lot today and huge chunk of the game Suarez just switched to the right and given Messi the freedom to play inside which happens even with Alves in the team
And in 1st half it was clear that VDW is the weakest link and we put pressure on the left side .
Alves is obviously our best RB and he was missed a bit .but it was really ok IMO
 

Capitan Puyol

Senior Member
View attachment 6814
Copa del Rey final 1997 - Barca-Betis 3-2 at Bernabeu!
On this photo are all 4 coaches in CL this evening: Luis Enrique (Barca), Lopetegui (Porto), Laurent Blanc (PSG) and Guardiola (Bayern)!
Barca - Mes que un club!:rockon:
 
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Heavy

New member
Next game I guess they will start Xavi in place of Iniesta.

They could put Messi playing as Iniesta, Neymar playing as Messi and Pedro playing as Neymar just to see what would happen...
 

Mido

New member
Can't agree with that.

Our right wIng was nonexistent, more than that, because of Alves absence, Messi played mostly in the middle which is less efficient under Lucho's tactical system.

Unfortunately, Rakitic might run like a hore and provide coverage but he hasn't got the technical abilities yet to play in the middle when during the attacking phase. Alves is, in this sense, a key player and you could clearly see yesterday that Montoya delivered an average performance.
 

Mido

New member
Next game I guess they will start Xavi in place of Iniesta.

They could put Messi playing as Iniesta, Neymar playing as Messi and Pedro playing as Neymar just to see what would happen...

Neymar playing as Messi would be a catatrophy in my opinion because of his extremely average passing qualities.
 

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