The
Champions League draw was made this lunchtime with Barça being paired
with French big money spenders Paris Saint Germain. The first leg will
be played at the Parc des Princes on Tuesday 2 April with the return at
Camp Nou on Wednesday 10 April. The tie will mean the return of Zlatan
Ibrahimovic, Thiago Motta and Maxwell Andrade to Camp Nou though the big
Swede has to serve the second of a two-match suspension and will miss
the first game in Paris.
Considering the other possible rivals this should be seen as a good
draw though it will not be easy. Money has poured into the French club
since being bought by the Qatar Investment Authority with big name
signings such as Ibrahimovic, the Brazilians Thiago Silva and the
impressive Lucas Moura, and the Argentinians Javier Pastore and Ezequiel
Lavezzi. Carlos Ancelotti’s men qualified for the last 16 by winning
Group A taking 15 points to finish above Porto, Dynamo Kiev and Dinamo
Zagreb. They then faced Valencia in the last 16, impressing in a 1-2 win
at Mestalla but without Ibrahimovic for the second leg they went
through after a nervous 1-1 draw.
The
clubs have only crossed paths twice before in European competition. In
the Champions League quarter-final stages back in 1995 PSG had a fine
team including George Weah and David Ginola and the Parisiens went
through 3-2 on aggregate. Barça gained revenge two years later in the
Cup Winners Cup Final two years later in Rotterdam when a Ronaldo
penalty was enough to beat the French side 1-0. The teams met more
recently in a preseason friendly last August with Rafinha and Messi
scoring for Barça before Ibrahimovic and Camara levelled the scores for
Les Rouge-et-Bleu. With a 2-2 final score the game was settled by
penalties with Pinto saving two as Barça won 4-1.