Features
WED 15.04.2015
The Liga BBVA’s very own FC Barcelona travel to Saint-Denis on Wednesday to take on Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final tie. This is the eighth straight season los azulgranas have reached this stage of the tournament, a record in Europe’s elite club competition. The two teams have met already this season in the group stage of the continent’s most prestigious club contest. This tie will see the teams face off in a competitive European fixture for the eighth and ninth times in their history.
Los culés have a slightly favourable head-to-head record against the Parisians. FC Barcelona have beaten PSG on three occasions, drawn with them three times and suffered two defeats, both of which came in the French capital.
The first time the sides met was in the quarter-final stage of the 1994/95 UEFA Champions League season. Barcelona only managed a 1-1 in the first leg, with Korneev scoring for the Catalans and George Weah for the Parisians. Barkero put Barca in front in the return leg in France, but Raí and Guérin won the game for PSG and sealed the club’s passage to the semi-finals. Los azulgranas exacted their revenge two years later in the final of the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup, with Barcelona overcoming París Saint-Germain 1-0 in Rotterdam with the goal coming courtesy of a Ronaldo penalty.
The teams would not play each other again for another 16 years. This time they would meet in the quarter-final stages of the Champions League of the two seasons ago, when Barcelona got through by the skin of their teeth. The first leg in Paris ended 2-2. Leo Messi put the Catalans ahead, but Zlatan Ibrahimović got an equaliser. Xavi Hernández put Barcelona in front once again towards the end of the game from the penalty spot but Blaise Matuidi managed to level matters in injury time. A 1-1 in the Camp Nou was enough to see los azulgranas through to the next round. Javier Pastore got the first goal for the visitors, momentarily sealing their ticket to the semi-finals, but Pedro Rodríguez popped up to put an end to PSG’s hopes of winning the competition that season.
The last clash between the teams was earlier this season in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League. París Saint-Germain won the first encounter 3-2 with the French side’s goals coming through David Luiz, Marco Verratti and Matuidi, while Messi and Neymar were on target for Barcelona. The Catalans turned the goal average around in the Camp Nou by winning 3-1, with Messi, Neymar and Luis Suárez’s goals cancelling out Ibrahimović’s early effort.
© LALIGA - 2015