Venue: Camp Nou Date: Wednesday, 10th April K/o: 7:45 GMT
Match Preview
If the second leg of Barcelona's quarter-final clash with French money-bags Paris Saint-Germain lives up to the spectacle we witnessed in the first, then we're all in for a fantastic night of football. Lionel Messi put the visitors ahead at the Parc des Princes a week ago, only for a Zlatan Ibrahimovic-inspired PSG to fight back at the death and tie the game 2-2 after Xavi had earlier put Barca back in front. Two hero's from that encounter, Barcelona's Messi and PSG's Blaise Matuidi, who bagged that dramatic equaliser, look like missing out tonight. Messi is struggling to recover from a hamstring injury that caused him to limp off last week while Matuidi is suspended having picked up a caution. It will be interesting to see how a Messi-less Barcelona cope against the star-studded PSG, but if there were any concerns that the La Liga leaders would toil in their talisman's absence, those were quickly allayed by an emphatic 5-0 drubbing of Real Mallorca at the weekend. Messi's stand-in replacement Cesc Fabregas bagged the first hat-trick of his Barca career in that game and Tito Villanova's side will pack more than enough firepower to cause PSG problems at the back.
Predicted Scoreline
Barcelona 1-0 PSG I can see this encounter going down to the wire, with Barcelona narrowly prevailing. The Catalans have been imperious at home in this competition and are undefeated in 20 matches dating back to 2009, when they lost 2-1 to Rubin Kazan. Equally, PSG are in form away from home and have won three of their four away matches in the Champions League. They will also be buoyed by the absence of Messi, but Barcelona will still be too good for them. Source:
Sky Sports