Barcelona vs Paris Saint Germain: Elimination for Barca not a foregone conclusion

Posted Tuesday, March 07, 2017 by PA

Elimination from the Champions League for Barcelona is far from a foregone conclusion, according to boss Luis Enrique.

If Barca are to avoid their earliest exit from the competition in a decade, they must do what no other team has done and overturn a 4-0 deficit.

Enrique's side were humiliated by Paris St Germain at the Parc des Princes, and the intervening three weeks have seen the manager announce his decision to step down at the end of the season.

But tinkering with Barca's formation has paid dividends and their last two matches - a 6-1 win over Sporting Gijon and 5-0 over Celta Vigo - offered plenty of warning signs for PSG.

A bullish Enrique told a press conference reported by uefa.com: "I've been convinced for a couple of weeks that there will be a stage in the game where we will be close to achieving what we need.

"If a team can score four against us then we can score six against them. The result in the first leg was very clear but this is a knock-out tie and we're only at half-time.

"Over 95 minutes, an infinite number of things can happen. Hopefully they will all be positive for us."

Those thoughts were echoed by forward Luis Suarez ahead of the last-16 clash.

He told France Football: "It will be difficult to reverse the situation, but not impossible. If a team can overturn such a score, it is Barca. We have the qualities and the character to get out of this complicated situation."

PSG are unbeaten in 16 games, of which they have won 14 and drawn two, while they have not conceded four goals in any match this season.

Striker Edinson Cavani told PSG's website the team must forget about their advantage.

He said: "That's behind us now and we have to focus on the return match. In Paris, we showed great concentration from the first minute to the last. That's what you need to beat a team like Barcelona.

"We know that their supporters will be cheering them on, but we will be ready."

Cavani has taken over the mantle from the departed Zlatan Ibrahimovic impressively, scoring 36 goals in 35 appearances so far this campaign.

But he insisted trophies are what matter, saying: "I work hard every day to keep improving, to score as many goals as possible, because I want to help the team.

"That's the attacker's job, but the most important thing of all is to win trophies. If you score a lot of goals, but don't lift any silverware, you cannot be completely satisfied."

Midfielder Thiago Motta and Angel Di Maria are both injury doubts but Adrien Rabiot has recovered from illness and is expected to start.