Features
MAR 21.04.2015
The second leg clash between FC Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain is still to be played in the Camp Nou, where the Catalans have only lost one of their last 31 games in the UEFA Champions League. Luis Suárez played a major role in effectively wrapping up the result for los azulgrana. Anything can happen in football, however, the Uruguayan has as good as guaranteed which of the two teams have a better chance of reaching the semi-final stage of Europe’s elite competition.
The Barca number nine’s tally pays testament to that, having racked up a total of six goals from six encounters, bringing his average to a goal per game. He has hit the mark against Apoel FC, Paris Saint-Germain during the group stages, Manchester City FC and the French side yet again in the first leg of the quarter-finals with a brace. The firepower he provides up front, along with Leo Messi’s tally of eight goals from nine games, have allowed Barcelona to trample over top quality European opponents.
Further proof of their prowess in attack is that Luis Suárez, Messi and Neymar Junior have all notched up the same number of goals against PSG. Each of the members of Barca’s attacking trio have scored on three occasions against the French side, another signal of how well the Catalan giants have done against PSG over the last few years. The teams have met three times so far this season, with each encounter including goals from at least one of the aforementioned forwards. The stars of the show in the first leg, which was played on 15 April in Parc des Princes, were the Brazilian, with one, and Suárez with a brace.
Thanks to his goals in Paris and his increasingly dominant performances, the Uruguayan striker has turned into one of the reference points for the Catalans this season, and it is Europe’s elite competition where he is producing his best football.
His brilliant brace in the Parc des Princes came after his decisive double at Manchester City in the Round of 16, making him Barcelona’s most prolific striker in the UEFA Champions League. Messi follows him closely behind, with an average of 0.79 goals per game (the Argentinian has scored 75 goals for Barça in the Champions League). Barcelona coach Luis Enrique holds the fourth best goal average for the club in the European Cup, scoring 19 goals in this competition, 0.51 goals per game.
The Urugayan may not score in every game, but he has developed a habit of scoring two goals in key games.
In the Liga BBVA, Suárez scored twice against UD Almería and Rayo Vallecano, while in his three-and-a-half-year spell with Liverpool he scored a total of 11 doubles, with his side winning all of those games. And since 16 August 2009, every time Suárez has scored twice in a game, his team have never lost.
What’s more, statistics in general favour the Catalan club. Paris Saint-Germain have not won on any of their three previous visits to the Camp Nou. On their last visit to Barcelona, in the final match in Group F in December, Paris were downed 3-1 by goals by Suárez, Messi and Neymar. And of the 36 times in which Barcelona have won an away match in a two-legged European tie, they have gone through 34 times —a statistic that demonstrates the Catalan side’s supremacy when playing at home.
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