It’s a real rarity to see Barcelona playing like that! The Catalans were smashed by Paris Saint-Germain and only lost 0-4 in Paris last Tuesday. Now, the Luis Enrique’s players have very low chances of reaching the quarterfinals of The Champions League.
To begin with, the last time Barcelona were humiliated like that was in 2013, when The Catalans lost to Bayern Munich twice (0-4 away and 0-3 at home) and were eliminated from the competition. Lionel Messi was invisible on the pitch against PSG, losing the ball every time he touched it. With such a performance, Barcelona will hardly win a trophy this season, maybe except the Copa Del Rey, in which they will play Deportivo Alaves in the final match.
Paris Saint-Germain looked extremely strong in attack, putting under pressure the Barcelona’s defence during the whole game. Angel di Maria, who had a birthday, opened the score in the 18th minute after a brilliant free-kick. PSG’s new signing Julian Draxler doubled the score 5 minutes before the end of the first half after a great assist by Verratti.
Everybody expected Barcelona to play better during the second half, but the things only got worse. Di Maria was unstoppable and bagged his second goal of the game in the 55th minute. With 19 minutes to go, Edison Cavani sent the ball into Barca’s net for the 4th time, securing the astonishing victory for The Parisians.
At both ends, it’s time to wonder whether is this the end of an era for Barcelona. The Catalans will surely be eliminated from the Champions League. They are also struggling in the Primera Division, where they can’t show their real face, lying in the second place and with 2 less matches to play than Real Madrid. Will this defeat affect the Barcelona’s players’ psyche? I think, yes, they will find it very difficult until the end of the campaign.