Goals: PSG—Van der Wiel 82’; Barcelona—Neymar 18’ - Suarez 67’, 79’
Recap: Ninety minutes of Champions League football saw Barcelona defeat Paris Saint-Germain 3-1 on Wednesday.
After ricocheting a shot off the far post, Lionel Messi assisted on the opener in the 18th minute. A composed delivery allowed Neymar to silence a capacity crowd at the Parc des Princes. More of the same followed in the second half. Superb individual skill from Luis Suarez doubled Barcelona’s advantage in the 67th minute. He would seal the 3-1 victory just 12 minutes later.
Gregory Van der Wiel eventually responded for PSG—thanks in large part to a deflection from Jeremy Mathieu—but it proved to be of little consequence.
Key Moment: Injury forced Thiago Silva off the pitch in the 21st minute. David Luiz came on in his place; however, PSG were better off fielding a mannequin. The £50-million man was embarrassed en route to goal not once, but twice by Suarez. Admittedly, given Suarez’s ability, there’s no guarantee Silva wouldn’t have suffered a similar fate.
Man of the Match: Suarez left Liverpool to win Champions League titles. On Wednesday, he proved to the world that he made the right decision.
Lesson Learned: Barcelona are the odds-on favorites to lift the Champions League trophy, having dispatched another league champion on Wednesday. Doubling down on their superior performance over Manchester City, the Catalan giants looked poised in Paris. Looking at the field, that will be the trend all the way to the final. Juventus, AS Monaco, FC Porto and Atletico Madrid all lack the quality Barcelona possess. Real Madrid are yet to fully capture their 2014 form. And with the only other odds-on favorite, Bayern Munich, facing injuries to Arjen Robben, Medhi Benatia and David Alaba, and now a 3-1 deficit of their own, all signs point to yet another Spanish club bringing home the European title.
Up Next: Both clubs return to league action on Apr. 18, with Barcelona hosting Valencia and PSG visiting OGC Nice.
Note: Credit all statistics to officially licensed data from Opta Sports (via WhoScored).
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