BARCELONA MEET PSG FOR 1ST TIME SINCE EPIC 6-1 COMEBACK WIN
MADRID: The last time Barcelona hosted Paris Saint-germain, it was one of the greatest comebacks in Champions League history. The same teams will meet Tuesday at the Camp Nou for the first time since Barcelona routed PSG 6-1 nearly four years ago.
“That game will go down in history,” Barcelona forward Ousmane Dembélé said ahead of the first leg of this year’s round of 16. “There will be revenge in the air due to the media trying to spice things up. However, we don’t talk about it in the squad because we know it’ll be a difficult game.” Things have changed since that match in 2017, with PSG getting closer and closer to the title and Barcelona coming off one of their worst seasons ever amid political turmoil and financial struggles.
While PSG made it to the final last season, Barcelona lost to Bayern Munich 8-2 in the quarterfinals. The Catalan club hasn’t reached the final since 2015, when they won their last European title. Barcelona and PSG also met in the knockout round of the Champions League in 2013 and 2015, with the Spanish powerhouse coming out on top each time. PSG last advanced past Barcelona in the 1995 quarterfinals. Only Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund have faced each other more times in the Champions League since 2013.
Neymar was with Barcelona during that historic 6-1 result in the last 16, scoring twice and leading the club to victory after a 4-0 loss in Paris in the first leg. He’s now with PSG, but the Brazilian won’t be playing on Tuesday because of an injury. PSG also won’t have forward Ángel Di Maria available.
Liverpool face Leipzig
LIVERPOOL: Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp insisted he is ready for the challenge of turning his team around after a tough period. Klopp conceded that his team would not be retaining the Premier League after a 3-1 loss to Leicester on Saturday. Addressing Liverpool’s poor form, which has seen the team lose three straight league games for the first time since he joined in 2015, Klopp said it was an “interesting challenge.” “Nobody wrote a book about it, about how you come into a situation like this and how you solve it, but we will sort it,” he said.