Champions League: Knockout Stage, Round of 16
Paris Saint Germain FC vs FC Barcelona
Parc des Princes, Paris, France
Tuesday, February 14th, 2016 2:45PM EST FS1
Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! Today is the day that we celebrate the love, affection, and passion that we as people, couples, and as partners share with our significant others. These emotions are only to be released to those that we care most deeply about and of course our favorite futbol clubs. Love, affection and passion will be ever present come matchday, as fans fill the stadium of their respective club, unraveling banners, waving flags, and cheering and chanting their squad on to victory. And today, on Valentine’s Day, in the City of Love, we will witness this raw emotion-filled pageantry from the raucous Les Bleus crowd as PSG face Barcelona in the Champions League Knockout Stage! I’ll provide a detailed synopsis of the road which each team has taken to get to this stage in the competition, touch on key players to watch, and reveal my prediction for this highly anticipated European fixture!
The Road to the Knockouts
La Azulgrana has been in fine form in the Champions League this season. Through the six matchdays of the Group Stage, Barca has won five and lost just once, producing 15 points out of a possible 18. This allowed them to run away with its Group. Their only loss came away at the Etihad ironically, at the hands of Barca’s “Golden Boy” Pep Guardiola and his Manchester City side. In addition, La Blaugrana beat the Scottish giants, Celtic, twice to the tune of a 9-0 aggregate, Borussia Monchengladbach twice on a 6-1 aggregate, and splitting two with Man City with an aggregate of 5-3 in Barca’s favor. Lastly, Lionel Messi, the world’s greatest footballer, led the entire Group Stage, a field of 32 clubs, with 10 goals in 5 matches played! Incredible!
Les Parisians meanwhile, had things a little bit harder. While PSG advanced with ease, the squad squandered a tremendous opportunity to win the Group on matchday six by surprisingly drawing with Hungarian side Ludogorets Razgrad 2-2. With that result, Les Bleus dropped from first to second in the Group, still earning a bid to the Knockout Stage. However, ultimately, they were forced into a fixture against a Group winner, Barcelona, despite not losing a game during the Group Stage as the club produced 3 wins and 3 draws.
Key Players To Watch
There’s only one player to start with here, and its the aforementioned, world’s best, Lionel Messi! The diminutive footballing maestro can score at a clip that only the absolute best can rival. Currently this campaign he’s averaging a goal every 45 minutes, scoring via his left, right, and head, inside and outside the box, and from free kicks as well. He recently set a new club record for free kick goals at Barcelona with 27! In addition, to his goalscoring prowess, what turns heads just as much is his uncanny knack for finding the open teammate, seeing runs before they happen, and placing a killer through ball in an area where only his squad member can get a foot to it. Roy Hodgson calls this “flies eye vision”, and what a sight it is to see.
As for Paris, Edinson Cavani leads the line as the club’s lone striker. He was world class with Napoli before moving to the City of Light. But having to play out of position and second fiddle to Zlatan over the past few seasons, his light dimmed. Now, this campaign, with Ibrahimovic having moved on to Manchester, Cavani has regained his ferocious form of old, producing goals at a clip of 1 per game. His rare combination of size, speed, and strength has simply overmatched the Ligue 1 and Champions League opposition all year long. His six goals in the Group Stage, which is good for second overall, and 25 Ligue 1 scores, first overall, is surely indicative of that.
Therefore, it is assured that Messi and Cavani will play a role in this one. The question is, who’ll come out on top and leave their club in prime position for advancement heading into leg 2?
LSB Prediction:
The Parc des Prince will be rocking Tuesday night, led by the pomp and circumstance of the Champions League back drop. The famed Champions League Anthem will get the crowd roaring, while producing goosebumps for those of us watching from afar. Once the whistle blows and the match is underway, it’ll be the the MSN that steals the show! A Barca squad led by a magisterial Messi will produce two first half goals, one for Suarez and one for Neymar, with Messi assisting on both. Come the second half, PSG will thunder forward trying to get back into the tie, ultimately bringing one back through a streaking Cavani hammering a header home. Lastly, a late free kick from an Azulgrana counter sees Messi’s strike beat the ‘keeper but get denied by the crossbar. This leaves the tie up for grabs, and everything to play for, in Leg 2 back at the Camp Nou! 2-1 FC Barcelona