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Without an audience, without any of the great stars who could play the game, without the curiosity of seeing Neymar again in Barcelona, but with all the pomp of the great European nights, the Champions returns to the Camp Nou with a match that is on the way to becoming a new European classic. Barça receives PSG (9:00 p.m. Movistar Champions League) in a duel in which Messi faces his umpteenth test with Barça, maybe the most complicated (follow the game live on As.com).
When the round of 16 were raffled and Barça was paired with Paris Saint-Germain, nobody gave a euro for the Blaugrana team. Those of Koeman had just been swept at the Camp Nou by Cristiano Ronaldo's Juventus and for the first time in many years they lost the field factor in the round of 16 tie. The injuries in the Blaugrana box delved into an open wound that bleeds every time it is time to play the Champions League against the greats of Europe.
The blaugrana were shipwrecked against Juve, in Rome they fell against the forecast, the Anfield drama still hurts and the spanking against Bayern in Lisbon It was one of those that will remain in history for many years.
With these precedents and the defense low pending the miracle of Piqué's recovery, who is willing to risk his knee to return when the team needs him most, Barcelona turns to Messi to face the challenge of morbid.
The Argentine, who ends his contract with Barça on June 30, is being harassed by the Parisian team, which has bothered the coach and the Barcelona environment. It remains to be seen if this siege of Leo by PSG has bothered the Argentine footballer. Tonight we can have a clue about it.
In case you want more elements to add pepper to the duel, the repertoire is wide. Pochettino returns to Camp Nou after being an emblem of Espanyol and saying that before he would go to a farm to train Barça (he said that before it rang to replace Valverde) If you want more, you just have to remember the last confrontation in the field of both entities, which ended with a 6-1 that still stings in Paris. That result precipitated that Neymar, the undisputed hero of that match from the Blaugrana side, agreed to change the Camp Nou for the Parc des Princes and that the relations between both teams became even more tense. They were already tense since the times when Barça wanted to sign Verratti, Di María, Marquinhos or Thiago Silva, but that 6-1 and the signing of Neymar triggered a new-minded rivalry. And recent hates are the most recalcitrant
So the warm game arrives, with casualties on both sides. With Barça depending on the miraculous recovery of Piqué, that if it is for him, he plays safe and if it is for the doctors, not even jokingly, but to see who stops him. Above, with Mbappé, Madrid's object of desire, arriving at the home of a Messi who faces multitasking again. Solve the game, the morbidness of his hypothetical future at PSG and be the guide that leads Barça in its long-awaited European catharsis.