Only a few hours have passed since the Champions League draw, but it didn’t take long for the first reactions about the PSG – Barça quarterfinals to arrive. The French media see themselves as clear favorites for the matches in mid-April, not only against Barça, but they consider that the draw has favored them to such an extent that it is “now or never ” to win the Champions League. Undoubtedly, in France they are heating up the rivalry.
Le Parisien ‘attack’ on Barça
The most difficult medium is Le Parisien. The newspaper of the capital began by remembering the march of Messi and confirms that the rebuilding of the team is still taking, because the Barça “he is still trying to find his way.” The criticism is extensive and there is also room for the removal of In opposition to some members of the sports management, including the Portuguese decorationthe former midfielder chose to abandon ship after a worrying start to the season.”
As the media points out, the defense has fallen “shipwrecked in big games”: “The statistics are surprising for an institution that has players as solid as Carles Puyol and Gerard Piqué. This season, Barça only 12th defense in the League, with 34 goals conceded, that is, 1.2 per game. Like the French international Jules Koundésometimes in difficulty and moved from the axis to the right lane, the shipwreck came especially in big games”, which puts the Frenchman’s position in doubt despite the fact that with the national team he also plays on the right part and not on the axis From behind.
Despite the improvement, they are convinced that Luis Enrique and his men will know how to hurt Barça because of their ‘latent fragility’: “The bleeding has calmed down a bit in the last month and a half, but This latent fragility will not go unnoticed by Luis Enrique’s coaching staff.“.
L’Èquipe, more restrained
On the other hand, L’Èquipe also sees the Parisian team as superior, albeit with some restraint, despite the fact that they did not see Barça advance to the quarterfinals: “It was almost the perfect tie for PSG, although the Borussia Dortmund. But FC Barcelona Now it’s a very young team, it’s still a model, a big name in Europe, but a team that reached the quarterfinals a bit like PSG, which was also a bit of a surprise. because we don’t expect Barça at this stage of the competition and they expect their young people to perform.
L’Èquipe ends as the year of “now or never”, because they not only see the quarterfinals in their favor, but also the semifinals: “Now the PSG is the favorite in this double confrontation and it would be logical to see Paris in the semifinals, especially since in the semifinal Paris also has a priori quite favorable tie where it can face Atlético de Madrid or Borussia for a place at the end. It’s a bit like ‘year or never’, the royal road for PSG finally hoping to win this first Champions League
Source: La Verdad
I am Shawn Partain, a journalist and content creator working for the Today Times Live. I specialize in sports journalism, writing articles that cover major sporting events and news stories. With a passion for storytelling and an eye for detail, I strive to be accurate and insightful in my work.
