The Catalan gaints were absolutely Bamboozled by Paris Saint German two weeks ago, as Kylian Mbappe hi utterly terrorised and tore through the agaeing midfield and defence of Barca, scoring a hatrick, and putting one foot of PSG in the next round.
Mbappe became the first away player to score 3 goals in a Champions League match at the camp Nou since Andrily Shevchenko for Dynamo Kyiv in 1997.
Pundits have even begun to say that the game marked the rise of kylian Mbappe as the best player in the world. But in football, it is not over until the final whistle is blown.
Barcelona are not newcomers in the world of comebacks. Four years ago, Barcelona produced a famous comeback against PSG at this stage of their 2nd leg tie at the Camp Nou.
A hat-trick from Neymar inspired Barca to overturn a 4-0 deficit, and triumph 6-1 in that game. But this time around Barca has already lost 4-1 at home and they now travel to Paris for the return leg.
They reality is that Barcelona have been on the decline. Last season they were walloped 8-2 at home by Bayern Munich. Last December, they were embarrassed 3-0 by Juventus, and then two week ago, the were subdued by PSG at home again.
The loss to Juventus and now PSG Means that Barcelona have suffered successive home defeats in Europe in the same season for the first time in their history.
These notwithstanding, there may be some glimmer of hope as Barca have had some remarkable comebacks in recent weeks.
The first being at Granada where they over returned a 2-goal deficit and fought untill extratime where the won 5-3. Another came at Real Betis where the came from behind twice to snatch a late 3-2 win.
More recently at Sevilla in the 2nd leg of the Cops Del Rey where they overturned a 2 goal first leg deficit, and won 3-0 at the Camp Nou.
Sovwe can see that Barcelona can bounce back from defeats.
The Big Questions Is Can Barca Score At Least 3 Goals More Than PSG In Paris, And Qualify
We will give you Barca’s chances based on the facts. Barca have won 4 of there last 6 fixtures against PSG, so one could say recent history favours Barca.
But PSG have score d 4 goals to win the remaining 2 games in that sequence. So if Barcelona choose to come out and play their usual open football, PSG has the fire power to punish them. So what are their chances?
Some sport betting company have already given specific chances that Barca have to qualify for the next round. According to their projection Barca have a 35.7% chances of winning the match.
With Messi playing some good football, and coming on the back of their impressive win against Sevilla, a win in Paris is not impossible. But whether just a win can give them a place in the next round is another story.
Furthermore, because it’s a game where both sides are desperate to score, especially Barca, the likelihood of 2-3 goals is being scored is 45.5%; while 4-5 goals is 35.1%. This is not surprising as the only way for either team to secure qualification is by scoring and not defending.
If PSG score first, the make the job of Barca much more harder. If Barca score first, they will automatically jeopardize PSG’s comfortable position.
So goal scoring will be key for both teams. Barcelona also have 50% chance of scoring the first goal of the game.
Barca in the classical attacking way of playing will likely be on the offensive early on. They are already down by 3 goals, and attacking might be the best option for Koeman.