On a gripping, occasionally frantic night at the Parc des Princes, Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona produced a game that felt like the opposite of the shared “Barça DNA” Xavi had spoken about in the build-up to this quarter-final.
Never mind control, patterns and a fight for space. This was an increasingly wild game, building from a mannered start into a second half of sweeping mob-handed attacks, feather-light defending and chances that simply came and went, posts clipped, shots blocked in desperation.
By the end Barcelona had done enough to deserve their 3-2 lead heading back to the Camp Nou. Xavi spoke about control afterwards and said he was “very happy” with the defensive work of his players. But nobody who watched the more unbound parts of this game would see anything other than goals on both sides in the second leg. Frankly this could have been anything.
Security around the Parc des Princes had been beefed up before the game in response to the threat from the terror group Islamic State. Drones circled the sky. Heavily tooled-up police occupied the corners. Paris 2024 is still planning a mass city-centre Olympic opening ceremony a hundred days from now. It keeps on being scaled back. Expect a little more of that from here.
The Parc was rocking at kick-off, drenched in a lengthy pre-match Star Wars-themed son-et-lumière show that involved playing the Imperial March quite a lot, and climaxed with the unfurling of an enormous militaristic Yoda banner. And why not?
Barcelona had Frenkie de Jong back from injury. PSG had Marquinhos covering at right-back again and Marco Asensio starting through the centre of the attack.
