Desk Report:
Not on the field; but when the opponent’s name is Barcelona, how can Ousmane Dembele be out of the discussion? It’s a former club. A few days ago, Lamine beat Yamal to win the Ballon d’Or. If Dembele was there, today’s match in the Champions League would have received a different message. Except for the injury.
Yamal, of course, has just returned from injury. That has made Barcelona more lively. The confidence has also increased. Although Hansi Flick’s team has maintained its rhythm in La Liga without Yamal. It can be said that their ‘preparation’ was good before facing the first real test of the season. The current Champions League champion PSG will take that test today at the Olympic Stadium.
The last time the two teams met in the Champions League was in the quarterfinals of the 2023-24 season. Barca was ignored at home. Will something like that happen this time too? Flick, however, does not remember the previous calculations. Yesterday, the Barca coach said at the press conference, ‘I am not thinking about the previous match against PSG; because, we have to focus on this match. The past and the present are different; everything has completely changed now.’
Yamal has already promised to improve his performance after losing the Ballon d’Or to Dembele. Flick got a little irritated because of the fuss about him, ‘He is only 18, he has to focus on hard work. If you want to go one or two steps up to the next level, you have to work hard, not just with talent. You have to not only play with the ball, but also take defensive responsibility.’
In 2017, Barca wrote an incredible comeback story with a 6-1 win against PSG. They won 6-5 on aggregate and entered the last eight. Luis Enrique was the coach of the Catalans at the time. Today he will be in the PSG dugout. Of course, that experience happened to him last year. So Barca is not unfamiliar to him as an opponent. That’s why he said a few days ago after the defeat to Marseille, ‘Players don’t want to make mistakes, but you have to accept it, they are human, and it’s part of the game. But if they miss the same easy pass against Marseille or Barcelona, then we will lose. As a coach, I shouldn’t be angry or accept the players’ mistakes. But we will improve against Barcelona.’
Injuries are a big obstacle for PSG on the path to improvement. Like Dembele, Marquinhos, Desiree Due and Khavicha Kavaratskheliya have also been ruled out of this match. Although the good news is that Joao Neves has recovered. Enrique is trusting the youth to make up for the deficit of those 4 footballers.
