FC Barcelona to face Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League quarter-finals
FC Barcelona now know their opponents in the quarter-finals of this season’s Champions League. The blaugranes will face Paris Saint-Germain in the last eight with the first leg coming in the Parc des Princes on 9/10 April and the second leg at the Estadi Olímpic on 16/17 April. The kick off times will be confirmed in the next few hours.
Should Barça make it past Luis Enrique’s PSG side then they would face the winner of the tie between Atlético and Borussia Dortmund in the semi-finals.
Face to face with a special coach
The tie against the French side will see the blaugranes come up against a former Barça player and coach, Luis Enrique, who is now in charge of the Paris club. The Asturian led FC Barcelona to their last triumph in the competition with a 3-1 victory over Juventus in the final in Berlin in 2015.
The Barça captain who lifted the trophy that day was none other than current blaugrana boss, Xavi Hernández, who played with Luis Enrique out on the field and under him towards the end of his playing career. The two blaugrana legends will come face to face as coaches with the PSG boss returning to face Barça for the first time since leaving the club in 2017.
A young team with a bona-fide superstar
The departure of players such as Sergio Ramos, Marco Verratti, Neymar and Leo Messi has led to rejuvenation of the PSG squad under Luis Enrique. The team still has plenty of experience in the form of figures such as Marquinhos and fellow defender Milan Škriniar as well as 25 year old superstar Kylian Mbappé, a veteran of two World Cup finals already with the French national team.
Options in attack
In midfield 18 year old Zaïre-Emery is the break out star of the season in a part of the pitch in which Luis Enrique has Spanish options in the form of Fabián Ruiz and Carlos Soler. Alongside Mbappé in the forward line we find another well known figure in former blaugrana Ousmane Dembélé who is having an excellent campaign after his move to the French capital last summer.
Draw in full:
Arsenal v FC Bayern Munich
Atlético Madrid v Borussia Dortmund
Real Madrid v Manchester City
PSG v FC Barcelona
