F.C Barcelona: The Picasso of Comebacks
Football Club Barcelona is one of the most distinguished and popular teams in world football. Recently on March 9,2017 the club shattered Paris Saint-Germain 6-1 on the night and completed one of the greatest ever comebacks in the history of football, overturning a 1st leg defeat of 4-0.
Build Up
Uefa Champions League is the premier football competition in Europe which establishes European supremacy of a club in the region. FC Barcelona had defeated Paris Saint-Germain(PSG) twice in the quaterfinal stage of the competition (2013,2015). In UCL 2016-17, PSG and Barcelona were drawn against each other in the Round of 16 stage. In the first leg at Parc De Princes(Paris), PSG inflicted a heavy defeat of 4-0 to the Spanish giants, almost impossible to comeback from. FC Barcelona had to play the best they could to overcome this margin in the second leg. The second leg was going to be held on 9th of March at Camp Nou,Barcelona.
Match-Day
A Barcelona comeback from the 4-0 crushing always seemed improbable. Football bookies had set the odds completely against the Catalan side going into the second leg. But destiny had something else in store for the club. Very few might have thought that that night would witness one of the most amazing comebacks in the history of football.
PSG manager Unai Emery had rested Angel di Maria for the game against Barcelona due to the latter not being 100% fit. The Argentine midfielder had scored twice in the first leg.
The Barca forward climbed above indecisive goalkeeper Kevin Trapp and sent a close-range header beyond Meunier on the line after Marquinhos and Marco Verratti had both failed to deal with Rafinha's cross.
Barcelona wizard Leo Messi celebrating with the crowd
Uefa Champions League is the premier football competition in Europe which establishes European supremacy of a club in the region. FC Barcelona had defeated Paris Saint-Germain(PSG) twice in the quaterfinal stage of the competition (2013,2015). In UCL 2016-17, PSG and Barcelona were drawn against each other in the Round of 16 stage. In the first leg at Parc De Princes(Paris), PSG inflicted a heavy defeat of 4-0 to the Spanish giants, almost impossible to comeback from. FC Barcelona had to play the best they could to overcome this margin in the second leg. The second leg was going to be held on 9th of March at Camp Nou,Barcelona.
PSG after 4-0 victory over the catalans
A Barcelona comeback from the 4-0 crushing always seemed improbable. Football bookies had set the odds completely against the Catalan side going into the second leg. But destiny had something else in store for the club. Very few might have thought that that night would witness one of the most amazing comebacks in the history of football.
PSG manager Unai Emery had rested Angel di Maria for the game against Barcelona due to the latter not being 100% fit. The Argentine midfielder had scored twice in the first leg.
Luis Enrique's side were three goals up within 50 minutes and did not allow Cavani's intervention to foil their bid for a slice of history, Neymar scoring twice before setting up Roberto in astonishing scenes, the second leg ultimately finishing 6-1.
Barca, reach the quarters for the 10th straight season, meaning they are still in with a chance of a treble in Luis Enrique's last season at the helm.
Hopes of a remarkable comeback were stirred after only 150 seconds, Suarez getting the goal.
Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez scoring the opener
PSG had a penalty claim rejected when Julian Draxler's cross struck the arm of a sliding Javier Mascherano, who was in as one of three Barca changes from the first leg.
But the hosts kept up the pressure, with Messi sending a free-kick just over and Neymar seeing a curling effort go just wide.
Lucas Moura, starting for PSG with Angel Di Maria only fit for the bench, sent an effort straight at Marc-Andre ter Stegen, but that was as good as it got from the visitors as Barca struck again five minutes before the break.
It was another scrappy goal, with poor defending from Marquinhos allowing Andres Iniesta to chase down Suarez's flick-on in the area and send a clever back-heel across goal which was sliced into his own net by Kurzawa.
The night went from bad to worse for PSG within three minutes of the restart when referee Deniz Aytekin pointed to the spot after consulting with one of his fellow officials.
The Barca award came when Neymar had surged into the area and been felled by Meunier's head after the defender lost his footing, with Messi stepping up and blasting past Trapp from 12 yards.
Desperate attempts to secure a goal made Unai Emery bring on Angel Di Maria.A deep free-kick from Verratti led to Kurzawa getting above Ivan Rakitic to head back into path of Cavani and he dispatched a magnificent dipping finish into the roof of the net.
Edinson Cavani celebrates after the sole PSG goal
Barca got a fourth with two minutes left, Neymar finding the top corner with an impressive free-kick that left Trapp rooted to the spot.
He struck again from the penalty spot in the first minute of added time, sending Trapp the wrong way after Suarez had been fouled by Marquinhos.
PSG then had to keep out Barca for the remaining four minutes of the five added, but could not do that as Barca rocked the football world.
The LaLiga side threw Ter Stegen into attack to add to the drama, which saw them seal one of football's most stunning victories when Roberto volleyed in Neymar's pass, sending Luis Enrique, the players and Camp Nou into ecstasy.
Sergi Roberto thrilled after netting the winner
Ecstatic scenes at the Camp Nou after PSG destruction
This victory will surely go down as one of the most improbable and exciting comebacks in the history of the sport. It will be etched forever in the history of FC Barcelona.
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