Did Barcelona’s European season end earlier than anyone expected? After the Catalans were defeated 4-1 by Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals and have significantly moved away from the ticket to the quarter-finals, the Catalan media is starting to lose patience.
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FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) February 16, 2021
Barça may travel back to the French capital on March 10, but the feeling – at least for now – is that it will have to concentrate on local frameworks. Last night, she surrendered unconditionally to the Parisians – led by Killian Ambape, who scored a hat-trick and left the Catalans with a lot of thoughts for the future.
“Ambape’s meteoric speed and Varati’s quality were enough to humiliate the Blaugrana,” Sport wrote this morning. “Once again relegation in Europe, another bad memory for the collection, along with Roma, Liverpool, Lisbon. The champions’ dream continues to be a nightmare for Barça, which is too close to another empty season. Everything looks bad, PSG have brought Barça back to reality.”
Spain, of course, also dealt with Messi’s feelings: “He played a game for much more than a quarter-final ticket, he played to find out if he could still be happy at the Camp Nou or if he had to flee to Paris to rediscover himself. And he found himself face to face. “The face of Barça’s reality and it exploded in his face. The doubts surrounding the Argentine’s crack only intensified at the end of the evening, it reminds him of the terrible past in Europe – and the bright future he may have in Paris.”
“We don’t have many options to come back from that,” the coach honestly admitted Ronald Coman. “When you lose 4-1, you have to be realistic. We have to improve a lot of things, and we knew this could happen. They are much better than us. In the second half, they just outscored us, and were much more efficient. In the first half it was more balanced, but in the half. “Second, they proved how much they are above us with the ball, and both in the physicality of the game.”
Koeman also referred to Gerard Pique’s condition: “He opened because he showed he was able to play without pain, but with such a result it was not appropriate to endanger him for ninety minutes.” Is this a blow for Barça? “I do not think. We are on track to change things.”
also Antoine Griezmann Echoed the same feeling: “This is not the picture we wanted to show. It’s not easy to absorb four goals at home. It was not our game, they were much better.” In addition, he referred to the great evening of his French team-mate, Ambape: “PSG have a great star, who in the future could be at the level of Leo and Cristiano. We had a wonderful game.”