Paris Saint-Germain host Barcelona at the Parc des Princes on Tuesday as they bid to overcome the Catalan giants and progress to the next round.
Luis Enrique rested the likes of Gerard Pique, Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets at the weekend but Barca still romped to a 6-0 win over Alaves. Barcelona have won their last 3 matches against PSG in all competitions and have won 4 of their last six matches with 18 goals in their last six. This fixture has seen at least four goals scored in each of the last four and there should be plenty of goals in this fixture with Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez both in devastating form coming into this fixture. Aleix Vidal dislocated his ankle at the weekend and is out for the weekend while Javier Mascherano out until the end of the month. To think that Barca still managed to win by such a huge margin is scary and PSG will have to be at their very best to beat them.
Paris Saint-Germain are unbeaten in the Champions League this season but have only managed to win one of their three home matches in the competition. They haven’t lost at home in any competition since March but tend to encounter problems at this stage of the Champions League. Their failure to win their group led them to this point and they must overcome Barca if they are to add to their record of reaching the quarters in the last four seasons. If they are to do this, they will have to do it without their leader Thiago Silva who is injured.
Per SkySports, Liverpool were the last side to knock Barcelona out at the last-16 stage back in 2006-07 with the only time PSG eliminating Barca being at the 1994/95 quarter-finals. Barca are also the last team to beat PSG at home in their last 42 home matches and are overwhelming favorites by any measure. One thing that is almost certain is that Barca will score, having never completed a game without scoring against the Parisians.
Betting odds have the best money on a draw and this makes sense since Barca won’t want to concede away from home and although they should score, they are still vulnerable at the back. It should a fantastic spectacle!