By Afolabi Adetunji Lagos, Nigeria.
The saying that in football anything is possible is indeed possible as Barcelona emphatically overcame PSG at Camp Nou last night. Fans across the world were in some doubt if Bacerlona could come out victorious having been seriously wounded by PSG at Parc des Princes in France. Although some knew Barcelona is not a walkover team and that they can produce a dramatic comeback. And for PSG going to Camp Nou to complete the tie was like bearding the lion in its own den.
Barcelona showed again that when there seemed to be loss of hope they can change the score. And they did just exactly in the second leg tie against PSG. Barcelona team has always shown resilient in the UEFA champions league matches and last night winning was a top of the line performance. When locked in a difficult situations like this they surely know how to get out of it. Unai Emery said “We lost everything in the closing minutes. Barcelona are capable of doing that. It was all or nothing for them.”
Last night winning may as well be one of the most dramatic and greatest comeback in UEFA champions league history. Barcelona showed so much intensity and willingness in the match but PSG didn’t show that vigor and determination to kill off the match. And once against the team with the world most dangerous trio-attacker all recorded goals in the match. Luis Suarez opened the scoring, Lionel Messi spot kick, Neymar two crucial late goals, own goal from Laybin Kurzawa and the young Sergi Roberto was the chosen one to do the final damage to PSG at the dead of the added stoppage time. Edinson Cavani score on the night to pull one back for PSG. The match with the second leg ended in favour of the Spanish Gaint Barcelona by 6 goals to 5 on aggregate.
I remember clearly Barcelona coach Luis Enrique after the first leg defeat in the hands of PSG and also an emphatic league match victory against Sporting Gijon. Enrique had come out to announce is resignation from the club’s duty as a manager by the end of the season. One would wonder why but i think it boils down to the fact that he knows his major players in the team is either aren’t playing to instruction or as good as he wanted. So he made that announcement despite their emphatic 6-1 victory over Sporting Gijon he did not keep his resignation. And the team went on to secure a 5-0 win against Celta vigo.
Thereafter and all of a sudden Barcelona remarkably turned one of the highest deficit to one of the highest comeback of all time. One should be cognizant enough to know that the players won the match with great intent rather than a miracle. Although the whole drama was remarkable but it was down to the players determination for one reason or the other. It is worthy of note that Luis Enrique prior to the match predicted that they would secure a comeback he said “If a team can score four goals against us, we can score six”.
