That Lionel Messi’s absence from the starting lineup is the
biggest story of tonight’s quarter final second leg between Barcelona and PSG
tells us all we need to know about the importance of the man towards Barcelona’s
chances, but with or without him the Catalans are overwhelming favorites and
should fancy their chances of making it to yet another Champions League semi-final
tonight even with their main man potentially absent - he starts from the bench.
Barcelona needed Messi to get them out of a hole in Paris
last week – PSG were well on top before the 25 year old finish off one of the
passes of the season from the magnificent Dani Alves – and there’s a feeling
that Barcelona could be potentially vulnerable without the magician who has
been at the heart of all their successes. However the return of the Camp Nou –
where Barcelona have been night on unbeatable for around 4 years should do the trick
– in 20 matches since losing 2-1 to Rubin Kazan Barcelona have won 16 of their
20 home games and drawn just four – while they’re also well used to putting ties
to bed here, having won 18 of 23 European ties in which they have drawn the
first leg away from home.
A most recent example of what they can do when the pressure
is on is their 4-0 romp against AC Milan to overturn the two goal deficit they
had in the first leg, but that was inspired by Messi from start to finish and had
M’Baye Niang held his nerve when through on goal against Victor Valdes the game
would have been a very different affair. In any case, this PSG side – who have
won three of their four road games in the Champions League so far this season -
could probably call itself superior to AC Milan with Lucas Moura, Javier
Pastor, Equizeil Lavezzi and Zaltan Ibrahimovic having already shown their
talent in the first leg, and all of them are players who will be perfectly
suited towards getting in behind the high line that Barcelona like to operate,
while they still clearly miss Carols Puyol and may miss Javier Mascherno in
defence tonight with Gerard Pique having to play alongside a partner in Adriano
who does little defending.
6 of the last 9 teams to visit the Camp Nou have scored a goal
which makes both teams to score tempting but Barcelona should get the job done
tonight – the midfield is still as strong as ever while David Villa and Cesc
Fabregas have proven they can taken on striking duties - and the 15/8 Coral
offer on Barcelona winning without a clean sheet makes most appeal, along with
a 3-1 scoreline in favour of the home side.
Advice
1 pt Barcelona to win without clean sheet (15/8 Coral)
1 pt 3-1 Barcelona (11/1 Bet Victor)
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