Champions League Classics #1: Barcelona 6-1 PSG

 UCL CLASSICS: BARCELONA 6-1 PSG 

Picture Above: Barcelona players celebrating their sixth goal as the managed to turn around the deficit and produce probably the greatest ever Champions League comeback.

Wednesday 8th March 2017
Camp Nou, Barcelona, Spain

Pre-Match: 

The teams played this match in the second leg of the 2016-17 Champions League Round of 16. PSG (Paris Saint Germain) came into the second leg as heavy favourites to go through. This is because of PSG's first leg win at the Parc de Princes. The score was 4-0 to the Parisians thanks to the master class of Angel Di Maria as the Catalans only managed to register one shot on target throughout the entire game. The second leg came around three weeks later and Barcelona fans were hoping to see their team progress in a packed Nou Camp stadium. Both teams were already doing domestically in their leagues yetr both were eying a place in the quarter finals. 

Match: 

The game in Catalonia came off with a promising start for the hosts as they managed to tuck away theur furst goal of the game. It came from Uruguayan striker, Luis Suarez who's header managed to pass the goal line before being cleared away by PSG defender, Thomas Meunier. As time progressed, Barcelona were filled with determination to go on and win the tie. However, the next big chance came in the 40th minute when there was a scramble in the PSG penalty area involving Barcelona captain Andres Iniesta and PSG defenders, Layvin Kurzuwa and Marquinhos. Kurzuwa accidenatly tiped the ball over PSG goalkeeper, Kevin Trapp to make it 2-0 to the Catalan side. More confidence was infused within the Barcelona team as they took a 2-0 lead into the first half. 5 minutes into the second half, and Barca had a penalty as Neymar Jr was fouled by a clumsy challenge by Thomas Meunier. The penalty was taken by club icon, Lionel Messi and was calmly dispatched into the back of Kevin Trapp's net, to make it 3-0 to the home side. Dispite all the goals scored by Barcelona, PSG striker, Edinson Cavani tried desperately hard to find PSG's first goal of the game. It eventual came with a sumptuous finish blazing past Marc-Andre Ter Stegen, which pilled a bot more pressure on Barcelona. 30 minutes went by, and Barcelona couldn't find another 3 goals to settle the tie. Then, in the 88th minute, there was a foul just outisde the PSG penalty area, and Neymar managed to tuck away wonderful free-kick to give Barcelona a boost in hope. A couple minutes later and Barca had another penalty due to a foul commited by Marquinhos on Luis Suarez. Neymar stepped up to the task and scored the penalty to make it 5-1 to Barcelona. However, it still wouldn't be enough to take the Blaugrana thorugh as PSG were winning on away goals. In the 95th minute, probably the greatest Champions League comeback was completed when Neymar delivered a delicious cross which was met by a great finish by defender, Sergi Roberto. Just like that, the comeback of the century was completed, and it will be forever known to the Barcelona fans as 'La Remontada'. Barca would progress to the quarter finals but would then lose 3-0 on aggregate to eventual finalists, Juventus.

Match Roundup:
Barcelona 6-1 PSG

Goals (Barcelona):                Goals (PSG)

L.Suarez 3'                            E. Cavani 62'

L.Kurzuwa (OG) 40'

L. Messi (P) 50'

Neymar 88', (P) 90+1'

S. Roberto 90+5'