On-and-off Spanish giants Barcelona are hosting French giants PSG in a mouth-watering Uefa Champions League knockout round 16 match at Camp Nou on Tuesday.
Ever since the Catalans dismissed Quique Setien as the head coach in August 2020, the team is still trying to rise above its troubles. And the club has been dogged by inconsistencies which have condemned it to staying third in the table behind Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid with a game in hand to play. Also, rumours of the talisman Lionel Messi leaving the club in search for new challenge have been room-filling.
Like Barcelona, PSG is three points off the top of the table and it currently sits in the third place behind second-placed Olympic Lyon and league leaders Lille.
But the French giants turned on a corner and registered a winning streak since they fell to Lorient in a 3-2 defeat end of last month.
It will be an evenly-matched encounter as both sides are seeking to put first foot forward ahead of the second leg tie in March 10.
PSG are however missing a dependent big name in Neymar Jr who is ruled out with an injury.
UEfa.com stated, ‘‘Neymar will miss the first leg against his former club Barcelona with a thigh injury. The Brazil forward was injured in Wednesday’s French Cup victory over Caen. Paris say he faces a four-week layoff, which could see him return for the second leg on March 10.’’
Italian young star Moise Kean will pull the strings in the attack alongside Angel Di Maria, Mauro Icardi, Pablo Sarabia and Kylian Mbappe who struck twice against Olympic Marseille.
Barcelona will be looking up to Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann to inspire them to home victory. Last season, PSG lost to Bayern Munich after making history by reaching the final stage of the tournament.
With Thomas Tuckel gone, Mauricio Pochetino is eyeing redemption to his career by making it right this time but with a different team. The last time he played the UCL finals he lost to Liverpool with Spurs, after he overcame the most difficult of hurdles; beating entertaining and agile Ajax team and dislodging Manchester City in a feisty encounter.
Liverpool up against RB Leipzig
Elsewhere, English Champions Liverpool will travel to Budapest, Hungary, to square it off with RB Leipzig at the Puskas Arena.
Ordinarily, the game could have been played at Red Bull Arena in Germany but travel restrictions mean that it cannot be played there. Germany restricts gatherings in the COVID-19 protocols and currently there is a temporary travel ban restriction between the two countries.
Uefa said: ‘‘UEFA can confirm that the UEFA Champions League round of 16 first leg match between RB Leipzig and Liverpool FC will now take place at Puskás Aréna in Budapest.
UEFA would like to thank RB Leipzig and Liverpool FC for their close cooperation and assistance in finding a solution to the issue at hand, as well as the Hungarian Football Federation for their support and agreeing to host the match in question.’’
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp—who lost his 81-year old mother and was locked out of the funeral due to the restrictions—will be on the touchline against his compatriot Julian Nagelsmann, a young coach with impressive brand of football and attire.
Liverpool sits fourth after a staggering start that was recently marked by 4-1 hammering by Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City in the English Premier League game.
The Klopp’s side is seeking to have a consistent on-pitch show they staged in 2019-2020 season that saw them lift the trophy with games to spare.
Leipzig on the other hand are high-flying. Despite losing top player in Timo Werner to Chelsea in the past window, the team has remained consistent in performance and it currently sits second with seven points behind rampant Bayern Munich.
Klopp is seeking to repeat the previous UCL heroics that enabled the team to play the finals twice-losing against Real Madrid but winning against Tottenham Hotspurs. Last season, RB Leipzig finished as semi-finalists after they lost to PSG. Nagelsmann will be aiming to put a good case and reach the finals, potentially lift the trophy.