PARIS: The Paris Saint-Germain of Kylian Mbappe and Barcelona conflict within the first leg of their blockbuster Champions League quarter-final tie on Wednesday, within the newest instalment of the rising rivalry between the 2 golf equipment.
It’s the fifth time the edges have been drawn in opposition to one another within the knockout stage of Europe’s elite membership competitors within the final 12 seasons, with these previous conferences together with an unforgettable encounter in 2017.
PSG gained 4-0 at dwelling within the first leg solely to lose 6-1 within the return in a shocking implosion in opposition to a Barcelona facet coached by Luis Enrique.
He’s now accountable for PSG, having joined the Qatar-owned membership forward of this season with the duty of delivering elusive European success.
“It’s a completely completely different sport for me,” Luis Enrique mentioned on Tuesday, referring to the particular nature of a fixture in opposition to the membership with whom he starred as a participant earlier than occurring to result in Champions League glory in 2015.
“However I additionally performed in opposition to Sporting (Gijon, the place he started his profession) and scored objectives for Barcelona.
“On the finish of the day I’m an expert. In fact I like Barcelona however I’m happy to be right here at PSG, and I need to take into consideration my job and my workforce. I believe I’m able to bringing trophies to this membership.”
PSG have by no means gained the Champions League and had gone out within the final 16 in 5 of the final seven years earlier than beating Actual Sociedad to achieve the final eight this time.
The implications of that 2017 assembly between the groups had been large.
A humiliated PSG exacted revenge by signing Neymar from Barcelona just a few months later by paying a world-record charge of 222 million euros ($264m on the time) to activate the Brazilian’s launch clause.
Barcelona panicked and blew all of that cash, and extra, in attempting to rebuild their workforce.
Among the many gamers they signed was Ousmane Dembele, who value an preliminary 105 million euros from Borussia Dortmund.
Quick ahead to final yr and Dembele was bought to PSG for simply 50 million euros, abandoning a cash-strapped Barca who’ve pale considerably as a continental drive in current seasons.
Their monetary issues pressured them to let Lionel Messi depart in 2021, with the Argentine teaming up with Neymar in a two-year spell in Paris.
It was only some weeks after Neymar’s arrival that PSG additionally signed Mbappe, who has gone on to grow to be the membership’s all-time prime scorer and can depart on the finish of this season when his contract expires, nearly actually for Actual Madrid.
Mbappe scored a superb hat-trick within the first leg in Barcelona when PSG beat the Catalans 5-2 on mixture within the final 16 in 2021, in the latest conflict between the golf equipment.
He has 39 objectives this season and seems additional motivated by the will to win the Champions League along with his boyhood membership earlier than he leaves.
PSG didn’t persuade within the group stage, solely simply scraping by means of to the final 16.
Nonetheless, they’re unbeaten in 27 video games in all competitions going again to early November and are dreaming of successful a Champions League, Ligue 1 and French Cup treble.
Barcelona, in the meantime, haven’t misplaced in 11 matches since coach Xavi Hernandez, who performed each alongside and beneath Luis Enrique on the membership, revealed his intention to stroll away on the finish of this season.
The five-time European champions are showing within the quarter-finals for the primary time since 2020, once they had been trounced 8-2 by Bayern Munich in a sport performed behind closed doorways in Lisbon, on the top of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We’re in our greatest kind however we’re taking part in in opposition to a workforce constructed to win the Champions League and we’re arising in opposition to among the finest coaches in Luis Enrique,” Xavi instructed reporters.
Barcelona are hoping midfielders Pedri and Frenkie de Jong, who’ve each been combating accidents, will be capable of play within the sport, whereas PSG are with out influential right-back Achraf Hakimi resulting from suspension.
“All those that have traveled will be capable of play, so long as there aren’t any surprises,” Xavi mentioned of his squad.
The second leg shall be performed in Barcelona subsequent Tuesday, April 16, with the winners advancing to a semifinal in opposition to both Atletico Madrid or Borussia Dortmund.
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