By Jean Lootcheby Clysto

This Tuesday evening, FC Barcelona hosts Paris Saint-Germain in the quarter-final second leg of the Champions League. Defeated at the Parc des Princes (2-3), the Parisians will have to overthrow the Catalans to continue in the competition. Here is our prediction for this clash between the Blaugranas and the Rouge et Bleu.

A week after their defeat at the Parc des Princes (2-3), the Parisians meet FC Barcelona this Tuesday evening. As the odds presented above illustrate, this return meeting still promises to be very undecided and rather open. If Barça won the first leg away from home, Luis Enrique’s team proved that they did not need many highlights to find the net. Conversely, the Catalan club delivered a very successful performance, but collapsed in a weak time, before finally regaining the lead.

With the absolute obligation to win and therefore score, PSG will be forced to attack the Barcelona area from the first moments of the match. If the PSG attackers could certainly find the loophole, Barça will also be able to seize it in the counter-attack phases, as the Blaugrana attackers did very well in the first leg. In this context, we envisage a match rich in spectacle.

Will Dembele do it again?

By equalizing after the break, Ousmane Dembélé put his team back on track after a frankly disappointing first half. If the Frenchman’s goal ultimately did not allow PSG to avoid defeat, the fact remains that the former Dortmund player was not far from being the hero of the evening thanks to this powerful strike. In addition to this goal, Ousmane Dembélé delivered a performance quite faithful to his habits. He thus never hid (65 balls touched in total, by comparison, Kylian Mbappé displays a total of 44 balls touched in the same period of time). As too often, however, he had a lot of technical waste (one successful dribble out of eight attempts). Despite this mixed record, the ex-Catalan could well be the key element in this return match, and even more so if Kylian Mbappé produces a performance as mediocre as that of last week.

Will Robert Lewandowski also score tomorrow?

Although he didn’t score in the first leg, the Pole was nevertheless one of the best players on his team. His performance was indeed a model of intelligence in his placement and in the game without the ball, a real match for the number 9. In the rapid transition phases, the former Bayern Munich player very regularly destabilized the Parisian defense. Very frequently criticized for his inability to be decisive during very major meetings, Robert Lewandowski has this time silenced his detractors. More generally, the Warsaw native remains the Blaugrana’s most effective striker this season (41 matches, 20 goals and 9 assists in all competitions). Having not played this weekend against Cadiz (0-1) due to suspension, the 35-year-old will be in great shape to once again destabilize the Parisian rearguard.

Barcaa qualification to ensure
By winning in the City of Lights, Barcelona took a more than important step towards the semi-finals of the Champions League. Very well in place in the first half in particular, hyper efficient in the rapid transition phases, the Blaugranas defied the predictions. If Raphinha obviously distinguished himself by scoring a double, it is indeed the work of an entire collective which was rewarded by this great success. It’s still a safe bet that the Parisians have learned their lesson from the first leg. On the defensive aspect, the Rouge et Bleu rearguard will in any case have an interest in leaving much less room for the opposing attackers. On several occasions, one pass was enough for Robert Lewandowski or Raphinha to find themselves in front of a completely abandoned Gianluigi Donnarruma. In their penalty area, we note that Kylian Mbappé was rather well muzzled. Xavi’s men therefore know the magic recipe, it now remains to repeat the performance.

Paris with its back to the wall

After the first leg defeat, the Parisians have no choice: they will have to beat Barcelona to avoid leaving the Champions League at this stage of the competition. If the French champion has the weapons to reverse the situation, he will obviously have to do much better than last week. In front of their audience, the Ile-de-France residents did not live up to the event. During the first act in particular, Paris had a hard time endangering its opponent. Playing a game that was too set and too stereotyped, the Rouge et Bleu came up against a well-established Barcelona defense. Conversely, the PSG defenders were far from impeccable. The unfortunate Lucas Beraldo thus experienced a nightmarish evening. Facing Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski, the young Brazilian was in all the bad places.

Fortunately, there is still hope for Paris. Firstly because there is only a one-goal gap to make up for, secondly because Luis Enrique’s men have proven their ability to take advantage of their strong moments. Returning from the locker room, it only took a few minutes for the Ligue 1 player to turn things around. On this specific point, we will also note that the light did not come from Kylian Mbappé, but rather from Ousmane Dembélé and Vitinha. On this last point, it should be noted that the performance of Crack de Bondy will be absolutely decisive during this quarter-final return.