Ever since a gentleman in a straw hat and a briefcase full of millions (222, to be exact) showed up at FC Barcelona's offices to take Neymar away, PSG has become a huge enemy for the Barcelona club and his people That episode that marked a before and after in international football, giving way to new hierarchies with little success but a lot of money, was followed by others that were more or less traumatic. Messi's departure in the same direction as the Brazilian's, Dembélé's later... They all contained the same implicit message: money is plentiful in Paris via the Qatari route and scarce in Barcelona, squandered by successive directives. The change of paradigm is so real that tonight who starts as favorite is the nouveau riche, when it had always been the other way around. Xavi's team is on the rise, but on the other side, commanded by a guerrilla Luis Enrique for what he heard yesterday, there is a differential footballer called Mbappé. Everything suggests that he will go to Real Madrid. PSG is definitely for Barça a kind of French Madrid. A new enemy in the imagination. The tie that starts today will decide whether the distances between the two worlds widen or shorten.
Xavi and the lineup
Xavi Hernández lives more quietly since he announced his early retirement for next summer. His team has improved and has the chance to make an unexpected jump to the semi-finals which would multiply the requests from the club for him to unpack. Xavi smiles at this new panorama. From vilified to seduced. That's football, let's not say Barça anymore. Xavi has had "a well-worked match plan" for days, they assure the dressing room. The ten days without competing have gone well for the group. The line-up has few doubts. Ter Stegen, Koundé, Araújo, Cubarsí and Cancelo will play in defence; Christensen, Sergi Roberto and Gündogan in midfield, and Raphinha, Lamine Yamal and Lewandowski in attack, with the Brazilian acting as a hinge with the interior to protect the team more. The only variation could be the inclusion of De Jong in place of Sergi Roberto. The Dutchman has recovered from his injury and is looking forward to it. Pedri, if he enters, it will be from the bench. Fermín will start as a substitute, too. From inside the gates, Frenkie de Jong was one of the players who was the happiest when he saw the ball come out for PSG. The Dutchman experienced the last European qualifier in Paris behind closed doors. Barcelona were eliminated, but they put fear into the French.
The other comeback of
Luis Enrique
Luis Enrique will go down in history as the comeback coach of all comebacks, steering Barça and precisely against the club he now coaches. A modern game technician who is based on the novelties that technology brings him, his tone in press conferences is more rudimentary, an aspect that has earned him quite a few detractors. In the dressing rooms, he achieves an atmosphere of granite unity and his teams usually go from less to more. At this moment before take-off, the Asturian is with PSG. His team is versatile and tactically rich. And look for the rival from minute one. For tonight's function, he must decide which right-back he chooses to cover the absence of the suspended Achraf Akimi, and which striker will accompany Dembélé and Mbappé.
With canceling Mbappé
Xavi has a plan to stop Mbappé, a global responsibility of the team but embodied in two players. On the one hand, Koundé, if the striker is allowed to fall on the left side, the one that has given him the most performance during his career. But if Mbappé centers his position, Araújo is expected to watch a traditional cut, so sticky that at times it will look like a man-mark, a countercultural custom in today's football but which is used from time to time both as an exception resource. Remember Maffeo chasing Messi in Montilivi?
The Dembélé mosquito
Few more apt nicknames for a footballer like mosquito. That's what his Barcelona teammates called him in his first season. It is annoying for the opponent because his choices on the turf are unpredictable. It is likely that even he himself does not discern them. An indecipherable character, he has never taken a flight to Barcelona despite the fact that he has left great star details. His injuries and inconsistency depleted his most ardent fans. Everyone but Xavi, who would give half a finger to have him on his side. The one from Terrassa and Dembélé have exchanged mobile messages these days. Good humor and jokes about what will happen in the playoffs. Luis Enrique sometimes takes him away from the band to hurt him inside. In Barcelona, this solution would have caused tachycardia due to the Frenchman's ability to lose balls. It may be that Luis Enrique is the coach capable of sorting it out. Although chaos and anarchy are actually both his problem and his virtue.
Laminated Yamal
He is 16 years old but in today's previews his weight at Barça will be associated with that of Mbappé at PSG. This is the Blaugrana club and this is how the child has earned it, a teenager who boldly leads the new wing of the Masia, a tireless factory of new phenomena. The long position will be shared with Pau Cubarsí, consolidated as a central player with 17 years. The Blaugrana squad stands out in times of war economy. Perhaps it should also do so in times of prosperity as a future solution and wall of containment against clubs like PSG. It will be necessary to wait to see what will be done with the elimination round.
