For its big return to the quarter-final table of the Champions League, PSG has inherited a tasty menu that will make you salivate and which will whet its appetite even further in view of a European spring potentially exciting where all hopes would be allowed. We’re not there yet, of course, given that you should never swear anything with this club, but Paris can still give itself the right to dream and foresee the rest of its journey with relish after the draw carried out this Friday.
Without saying that Luis Enrique’s men have just opened a royal road to Wembley, where the final will take place on June 1, the road that leads to London has suddenly become much less steep. While a detour via Manchester or Madrid was strongly feared and to be avoided, Mbappé’s partners will finally head to Barcelona to play for their European destiny, before facing Dortmund or Atlético de Madrid in the next round, if all goes well. . They will host the Blaugranas on April 10 and will play their quarter return in Spain on April 16, at the Montjuïc stadium and not at the Camp Nou, under construction and theater of the 2017 comeback, with a certain Luis Enrique at the helm…
Just to start hostilities, or to reassure itself, the Catalan club had fun digging up a photo of this meeting in which we see Neymar and Messi, the two heroes of the evening. Another time, another era, but above all another team, much more talented than the current one… Because with the exception of Borussia, Barcelona served as the most lenient draw. Barça remains Barça, this prestigious club endowed with talented players (Lewandowski, De Jong, Gündogan) and capable of relying on its training center, like its nugget Lamine Yamal. But it’s no longer the great Barça. And like Paris, he returns to the quarters for the first time since 2021, which says a lot about his situation.
“I am convinced that we can achieve great things”
The work is even more important for the Catalans who will part ways with their coach Xavi at the end of the season when PSG begins its reconstruction more calmly. Undefeated since November, Paris is not yet a steamroller, but the serenity and calm displayed during the previous round give it a certain legitimacy.
With this double confrontation, he has the opportunity to see higher, bigger, further. “FC Barcelona is a historic club, a team to respect,” underlines captain Marquinhos. I think there is no favorite. Now we must continue. I am convinced that we can achieve great things. »
PSG would be wrong to put up barriers when it has inherited the most affordable part of the table. In the event of qualification in the last four, the Parisians will therefore compete for a place in the final with the winner of Dortmund-Atlético, while Real Madrid, opposed to Manchester City and Arsenal, opposed to Bayern Munich, will compete at the same time exciting battles that should leave their mark. How can we not begin to believe it when a lucky star finally seems to hover above the City of Lights?
