Visitors FC Barcelona were buoyed by the return of their head coach Tito Vilanova last night and took to the Parc des Princes with a renewed confidence after their stunning comeback against AC Milan three weeks ago. Barça were made acutely aware in the opening minutes of the quality of the home team however, and just about survived an opening twenty minutes of sustained pressure from Paris Saint-Germain.
Credit must be given to Ancelloti who decided to forgo the traditional bus parking approach to playing Barcelona, and the home side were content to play Barcelona at their own game. Veteran David Beckham was granted an unexpected starting berth in the PSG midfield, and it nearly paid dividends as PSG came within inches of opening the scoring after just five minutes. Javier Pastore's chest pass to Lavezzi saw him beat Pique and he looked set to finish, only a Busquets' tackle saw the ball bobble against the post with Valdes well beaten. The PSG fans found their voice and lifted the rafters of the stadium.
Barcelona appeared a little rattled. Their touch seemed a little labored and they lacked the speed of movement and delivery that saw them dispose of Milan three weeks ago. Thiago Silva seemed to have the forward line dominated and cut out any attack that came his way. So much so that goal keeper Sirigu was not tested for half an hour. At the back Gerard Piqué was in out of his depth, finding Ibrahimovic a handful. He dragged the Swede down just outside the area in a desperate challenge, earning himself a very early and dangerous yellow card. Beckham stepped up to take the free kick, however it was Ibra who unleashed a surprise low drive that bypassed the poorly positioned wall only to be denied by a fully extended Valdes.
Against the run of play, Dani Alves latched onto a defensive clearance from a tame Barcelona corner to provide an incredible sweeping ball into the area with the outside of his right foot. The ball fell into the path of Messi who directed a low left foot bullet to the bottom corner. Messi proved clinical with the side's only clear cut chance and he went close minutes later with a left footed curler that just missed the top corner by inches. However, he seemed to pull up abruptly after the shot and appeared to be injured.
After the restart, Messi sat on the bench and Cesc Fabregas was introduced into the fold. It was to be the cruelest of blows for the visitors who were now in control of the game and exerting their usual dominance on possession. However, worse was to come for the blaugrana. An inswinging cross was met by the talismanic Thiago Silva. The ball beat Valdes and hit the post rebounding into the path of Zlatan Ibrahimovic who was clearly a mile offside. He planted the rebound to tie the game and somehow three officials were blind to the offence.
Worse was to follow when Javier Mascherano was stretchered off in the dying minutes of the game to add further woes to a backline ravaged by injury. The inexperienced Marc Bartra was thrown into the deep end after having very few minutes played all season. Barcelona seemed to have put the tie to bed in the final minutes however. A Fabregas flick in the box fell into the path of Alexis Sanchez. The Chilean had another bad game, however his dramatics ensured the penalty. Xavi stepped up to the plate to take the lead after sending the keeper the wrong way. There was to be more drama at the death. At the other end, a lofted ball into the box was headed down by Zlatan Ibrahimovic into the path of Blaise Matuidi who blasted the ball. The ball deflected off young Bartra, wrong footed Valdes and bobbled into the net. It was an agonising blow for a Barcelona team who had already undergone 90 minutes of misfortune.
Two away goals are a sorry consolation after victory was snatched from their grasp. And the return leg will be made all the more difficult by a creaking backline and the possibility of fielding a team without the magical Mr. Messi. Let's hope he beats the odds and makes it back for the next match. One more miracle from him seems to be a reasonable request.
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