Rivalry/Round: 2020-21 UEFA Champions League, Round of 16, Leg 1
Barcelona Outs and Doubts: Ansu Fati, Philippe Coutinho, Sergi Roberto, Ronald Araujo (out), Gerard Piqué, Martin Braithwaite (question)
PSG Outs and Doubts: Neymar, Ángel Di María, Colin Dagba, Juan Bernat, Timothée Pembélé (out), Marco Verratti (question)
Date/Time: Tuesday, February 16, 2021, 9pm CET/WAT (Barcelona and Nigeria), 8pm GMT (UK), 3pm ET, 12pm PT (USA), 1.30am IST (India, Wednesday)
Scene: Camp Nou, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Arbitrator: Björn Kuipers (NED)
VAR: Pol van Boekel (NED)
Instructions to watch on TV: TUDN (USA), BT Sport 3 (UK), SONY TEN 2 (India), Canal+ Sport 3 (Nigeria), Movistar Liga de Campeones (Spain), others
Instructions to stream: FuboTV (USA), BT Sport Live (UK), Movistar+ (Spain), DAZN (Canada), others
Following an excellent win against Alavés to expand their unbeaten streak in La Liga, Barcelona are back in real life for the greatest round of the period up until this point: the principal leg of their Champions League Round of 16 tie against Paris Saint-Germain.
In view of a horrible misfortune to Juventus in the gathering stage finale last December, Barça completed second in their gathering and are confronting a gathering champ with the subsequent leg being played away from home, and the draw with PSG isn’t simple in any way.
In any case, as is regularly the situation, you can’t pass judgment on the Round of 16 attract when it’s made December since the matches just occur in February, and groups can change a ton in those two months. What’s more, the two groups have: PSG went to Champions League finalists to changing their mentor to not resembling a world-blender any longer, and Barça have improved colossally and come into this one in their best type of the period.
Ronald Koeman actually needs to substantiate himself in defining moments, and it’s difficult to get any greater than this one. Given their away record in Europe throughout the most recent three years, Barça MUST get an outcome in the main leg, particularly since there’s a decent possibility that the harmed Neymar will be back for the return coordinate in Paris.
With Neymar and Ángel Di María missing this one, PSG’s imaginative weight will fall on the shoulders of Kylian Mbappé, who battled toward the beginning of the period however is — in a real sense — flying at the present time. Shielding him well is the way to Barça getting an outcome, and if Gerard Piqué affirms the bits of gossip and plays on Tuesday, the Blaugrana’s odds improve.
The alliance structure is astounding, and Barça are somewhat better coming into this one, however they are yet to win a really major game this season. Truth be told, they haven’t played well in a genuinely major game. In the event that they don’t on Tuesday and get beaten seriously, it’s truly difficult to see them pulling off another 6-1 in the subsequent leg. All things considered, Sergi Roberto is harmed.
Potential LINEUPS
Barcelona (4-3-3): Ter Stegen; Dest, Mingueza, Lenglet, Alba; De Jong, Busquets, Pedri; Dembélé, Messi, Griezmann
PSG (4-2-3-1): Navas; Florenzi, Marquinhos, Kimpembe, Kurzawa; Paredes, Gueye; Sarabia, Verratti, Mbappé; Icardi