Neymar leads Spanish stroll for Barcelona against Paris Saint-Germain
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Version 0 of 1. Barcelona are in the semi-final of the Champions League for the seventh time in eight years. For Paris Saint-Germain, there was no comeback and no chance of a comeback, nor much of an attempt at one. It took only 14 minutes for Barcelona to score the first goal and although that left PSG much the same task as they had faced at the start – needing three to overturn the defeat suffered at the Parc des Princes six days before – they never embarked on that task and were never allowed to either. Instead, it was Barcelona who scored again to win 2-0. Both goals came from Neymar inside 34 minutes. The tie was over, if it had not already been when Luis Suárez sent the ball through David Luiz’s legs for a second time in Paris. Luis Enrique’s side eased into the semi-final; the doubt is whether it really was easy or they made it look so with a superb performance that rendered the second half superfluous. “I lived the second half with tranquillity,” Luis Enrique said. “Barcelona would not let us do anything,” Laurent Blanc said. The PSG manager has had previously insisted Barcelona are a “consolidated” team, which appears increasingly true, even in Luis Enrique’s first season. Blanc asked about Barça’s Champions League record and when he was told, his response was clear: “Donc, c’est un grand club.” His point was that PSG, who he said began building in 2012, are not. They are, he said, still under construction and must remain patient – a virtue for which a club that has invested so heavily may not have time. The failure here was not being knocked out but the way it happened; the fact they did not rebel against their fate. Although he had promised his side would come to show what they could not do without key players in the first leg, PSG did not show anything until it was too late. They took until the 83rd minute to force a corner and had been only slightly quicker to fire a first shot on target. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, suspended in Europe after his sending-off against Chelsea and banned in France for describing it as a “shit country” that did not deserve PSG, was back and there was also a return for Marco Verratti. “We’re realistic: we know it is difficult, but we’re not here on an excursion,” Blanc had said and their presence gave hope of reaching the three-goal target. Yet Blanc admitted that while scoring goals would be possible; preventing Barcelona scoring was “virtually impossible”. So it proved, right from the start. Barcelona pressed high as if they were the ones chasing the game, even if the opening goal came from deep. It was beautifully made by Andrés Iniesta. Receiving the ball 20 yards inside his own half with his back to the PSG goal, he glided away from the first challenge, turning inside. Edinson Cavani came to him but he stepped over the Uruguayan’s leg and continued. Verratti slid in but he went over the Italian’s legs too. Off he went, fast but seemingly effortlessly through the middle, leaving no footprints. Approaching the area, Iniesta slipped the ball to Neymar, running behind David Luiz and past Salvatore Sirigu with two touches to score. Incredibly, it was Iniesta’s first assist of the season. As for Neymar, it was his fifth Champions League goal of the season, and his fourth against PSG alone. Another came just after the half hour when he nodded in Dani Alves’s left-foot delivery. By then, Ibrahimovic found the net but it was rightly ruled offside and for much of the half it was only the whistles from the Barça fans that signalled his presence on the pitch. He, like the majority of his team-mates, was an irrelevance. Verratti alone offered resistance. Barcelona dominated collectively. This was not all about Lionel Messi. Sergio Busquets, Ivan Rakitic and Iniesta controlled and all of them took a step forward, winning possession high, the back four squeezing up behind and the full-backs running beyond. Suárez probably made more tackles than anyone else. Alves, Neymar and Messi had shots; PSG did not. They did not even offer much of a fight, committing only four fouls by half-time. Barcelona doubled that. Barça’s only concern was to rest players for Saturday’s Catalan derby; Iniesta was withdrawn at the break, Busquets soon after, then Suárez. Ibrahimovic and Verratti made a chance which forced Marc-André ter Stegen to save from the Swede with 10 minutes left. The Italian made another in the 87th minute. Ibrahimovic’s had been Ter Stegen’s first save and PSG’s first shot of a match that was always likely to be hard and quickly became impossible. |