The duel between PSG and Barcelona a few seasons ago would have been perhaps the strongest pair in the quarterfinals of the Champions League, and now realistically speaking it is in third place in the hierarchy, behind yesterday’s clashes of Real Madrid – Manchester City, or Arsenal – Bayern respectively. The two former clubs of Lionel Messi and the two current champions of their countries are going through ‘transitional’ campaigns in which they are given little chance to win the title of European champion. Admittedly, artificial intelligence predicted Barcelona as the new champion, but only at the end of the season will we see if the machine is smarter than common sense…However, this transition season for both greats can still be very successful. PSG will surely win the new French championship title, and probably the domestic cup as well. On the other hand, Barcelona are slowly getting in shape, they are playing better and still trail eight points behind Real Madrid in the domestic championship. And then there is the Champions League… The team that proceeds to the semi-finals will face the winner of the Atletico Madrid and Borussia Dortmund duel. These are big European clubs, but people and artificial intelligence will agree that both PSG and Barca are better than both Atletico and Borussia…Who suffered more at the Emirates last night? Both sides armed with massive penalty complaintsBoth clubs easily dealt with their rivals in the round of 16. PSG knocked out Real Sociedad 4-1, and Barcelona won 4-2 over Italian champions Napoli.The Parisians are led by Luis Enrique, the coach who last brought the Champions League trophy to Barcelona, and this match will surely be a big motivation for PSG’s superstar Kylian Mbappe, who will (probably) move to Real Madrid at the end of the season. Mbappe is playing in fantastic form, he wants to say goodbye to Paris with the biggest trophy, and he wants to further ‘appease’ his future employer and fans by knocking Real Madrid’s biggest rival out of the competition.PSG, although they have been in good shape for the last six months (they recorded their last defeat at the beginning of November against AC Milan), did not excel in their last league match. At Parc des Princes, they barely escaped defeat (1-1) against Ligue 1 bottom dwellers Clermont, but in that game, Mbappe entered only in the 67th minute. Whether Enrique was keeping him for Barca or whether it was a disciplinary measure, stays unclear for the French media, but Mbappe will certainly start in tonight’s match.##EDITORS_CHOICE##Enrique has more or less the entire team at his disposal except for Kimpembe, Kurzawa and Sergio Rico, and the two right backs Achraf Hakimi and Nordi Mukiele are also under question – it wouldn’t be a surprise if Zaire Emery could take over that role. Former Barcelona player Ousmane Dembele is also expected to be in the starting eleven of the Parisians.”I hope that our ambition will be greater than the pressure of this kind of game. We are looking forward to playing at this level, and the goal is clear, to reach the semi-finals. The team spirit is at a high level, we feel good. Two teams with similar style of play. I don’t burden myself with the role of favourite,” said Enrique.After a heavy 1-4 loss to Real Madrid in the Super Cup final, then relegation to Athletic Bilbao in the Cup, followed by a 3-5 home defeat to Villarreal in the championship, with which the Blaugrana said goodbye to the title, the team of soon-leaving coach Xavi, is unbeaten in 11 games, and they welcome this match after four wins in a row in which they conceded only one goal, in a 3-1 victory over Napoli in the second leg of the round of 16.Barcelona still have a chance to win the title in Spain, but objectively, it is unlikely. Therefore, Xavi will throw all his cards at the Champions League in order to bid a worthy farewell to his beloved club. Today, they certainly won’t be able to count on Gavi and Alejandro Balde, and probably not even on the convalescent Pedri, Andreas Christensen and Frenkie de Jong, who are training with the first team, but are not yet ready for the toughest efforts.The last time these two teams met in the Champions League was in the 2020/21 round of 16, when PSG reached the final. Kylian Mbappe excelled in that game, scoring a hat trick, and at the end of that season, Messi moved to PSG. But Barcelona still remembers one of the biggest victories in the recent history of football, and that 6-1 in the spring of 2017, with which Barca made up for the 0-4 deficit from the first game.UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE – QUARTER-FINALSFirst legTuesdayArsenal – Bayern 2-2 (1-2)/Saka 12, Trossard 76 – Gnabry 18, Kane 32(p)Real Madrid – Man.City 3-3 (2-1)/Dias (og) 12, Rodrygo 14, Valverde 79 – Silva 2, Foden 66, Gvardiol 71/Wednesday22:00: (1.85) Atl.Madrid (3.60) Dortmund (4.80)22:00: (2.05) PSG (3.60) Barcelona (3.80)***odds are subject to change***
