And this is only the first match of the quarterfinals Champions League.

Useless domain

First half of the comparison PSG and Barcelona in Paris in the opening match of the Champions League quarter-finals proved to be tense, nervous, but not full of goals. At least in its debut part. Except it followed a predictable scenario. PSG he seemed to catch the ball and roll it 60% of the time, shot on goal more often and his passes were more accurate.

But the Parisians should have been wary of the specificity of Barcelona’s attacks, something they themselves lacked. The Catalans moved forward with only one goal: to create danger. And they created it. At half-time the score should have opened in favor of the guests, but Nuno Mendes managed to clear the ball from the goal line. This call didn’t cheer me up much PSG, which offered nothing more than ball control. Yes, and she started to lose it gradually.

By the end of the first half a completely clear picture had emerged. PSG he can control the ball more, but he does it in a completely stupid way and without benefit to the attack. And Barcelona appeared more confident in front of Gianluigi Donnarumma’s goal. And this led to a goal. And precisely because of the Italian goalkeeper. He acted nervous the whole way, was constantly agitated and made some hasty decisions. In the scoring incident, Donnarumma rushed to intercept Lamin Yamal’s cross from the right towards Robert Lewandowski. Yes, he knocked the ball down so badly that it went to Rafhinha, who hit the empty net. Sometimes the initiative is punishable. Especially for goalkeepers.

Explosive start

But during the break, Luis Enrique decides to replace the faded Marco Asensio, who caught the wrong Spanish flashbacks from the time of his confrontation with Barcelona in Real Madrid, with Bradley Barcol. The latter perhaps did not directly take part in the scoring actions, but he played an important role in the overall electrification of the game PSG. It has become less sterile and more explosive, more acute. Together with Ousmane Dembele, Kylian Mbappe, Vitinha and Fabian Ruiz, they began to dismantle Barcelona at the speed of the formation. And it worked.

Interestingly, it was Barkol’s production that became this catalyst, as it usually happens PSG There was an earlier outburst of emotion from Mbappe. Overall, the Catalans closed it out successfully. Kylian looked for himself in different positions in attack. And everything was unsuccessful. He has had games where he hasn’t scored, but most of the time it’s been due to his bad luck: he usually creates plenty of chances anyway. And here exactly nothing worked. Well, by Mbappe standards, of course. But Barkola and Dembele tore the enemy apart.

And this led to a coup in three minutes. First, Usman scored with a brilliant shot after a couple of offensive rebounds from his own players in the penalty area. Then Ruiz brought Vitinha to Marc-André ter Stegen, who was unable to react to the dagger attack. And everything turned upside down. Now PSG found himself in an advantageous position.

In the first 15 minutes of the second half, the Parisians’ most significant superiority emerged. They already had the ball 70% of the time, took five shots and allowed only one into their own net. Luis Enrique wanted to consolidate this dominance with the exit of Warren Zaire-Emery, who was supposed to stylistically repeat the successful exit of Barcol. But Xavi has already developed his answers.

The magic of substitutions

Together with Zaire-Emery PSG Barcelona released João Felix and Pedri onto the pitch. The release of the latter proved to be extremely effective. In a situation where the Catalans seemed stuck, Pedri just needed a brilliant pass behind the defenders towards Raphinha for everything to turn around. It was fortunate that the latter was also fit and in good spirits. With a single touch he beats Donnarumma on the fly. A minute on the pitch was enough for Pedri’s magnificent assist.

And around 15 minutes later, Xavi released Ferran Torres and Andreas Christensen. The latter also needed just a minute to stand out. And naked. He turned Ilkay Gundogan’s corner cross into the net. Another flaw of Donnarumma should be noted. After all, the ball was spinning in the goalkeeper’s area and in such cases the goalkeeper had to come out to intercept. Gianluigi evidently missed the opportunity and then limited himself to pressing on the goal line, without being able to react anymore. We could only count on the defenders, but Marquinhos lost his position against Christensen. Andreas, by the way, also marked his birthday.

Of course it is worth noting that even with the score 2:2 Dembele himself hit the post. And Barkola almost went one-on-one. That is, in all these upsets it didn’t seem like one team suddenly stopped playing and the other exploded with a series of scoring chances. Both opponents had chances. But that’s why they have such status and class. Details and half moments are important, realizing your capabilities is important.

Some numbers

It is worth noting right away that, perhaps, Mbappe personally became the biggest loser. They covered him brilliantly and after the match Xavi chose the young Pau Kubarsi, who was almost more successful than anyone else in blocking the opponents’ attempts. Kilian didn’t have a single shot on target. He had three in total: one inaccurate, two blocked.

In this context, Raphinha looks like an even brighter star, who scored two goals and threatened the goal more often than others. He struck six times. In second place is Dembele. Usman also put in a lot of effort against his former team. And it’s hard to blame him.

But Mbappe has surpassed the historic threshold. He became the youngest player to play 70 matches in the Champions League. Kilian did it at 25 years and 112 days. Left behind are Lionel Messi and Raul, who were previously in the lead.

Barcelona has found its record holder. Lamin Yamal turned out to be the youngest player to reach the Champions League quarter-finals. He is 16 years and 272 days old. The previous record was held by Ryan Cherky of Lyon. He installed it at 17 years and 2 days. If Barcelona reaches the semi-finals and Yamal appears there, he will update the record in the next stage.

First, however, Barcelona will have to face another test from the Parisians. Even at home, even with an initial lead of one goal. This match proved that anything is possible in a matchup between these teams. And even for periods of a couple of minutes. What can we say about all 90.