Barcelona suffered a disappointing 4-1 defeat to Paris Saint Germain in the second leg of the UCL Quarter-Finals. The Catalan club were soaring high on confidence after taking a 1-0 lead and pushing the aggregate to 4-2. However, things started to go downhill after a red card was issued to defender Ronald Araujo.
The incident occurred in the 29th minute when Araujo tried to prevent Bradley Barcola from scoring a goal. Replays suggested that the South American made contact with Barcola, just outside the box, but the fact that it was on a clear goal-scoring attempt led to him being shown the red card. From thereon, the game changed as Paris took advantage of the situation and ended up scoring the first of the four goals in the 40th minute, courtesy of a stellar finish from Ousmane Dembele.
Dembele’s goal was the start of the end as Paris scored three more goals in the second half to finish the game 4-1. After the game, Xavi expressed his disappointment towards the refereeing decisions during the game. The young manager and his assistant were shown the red card due to their protests over the referee’s decisions.
Could Barcelona have played better after receiving the red card?
Receiving a red card in the second leg of the UCL Quarter-Finals is certainly tough on any team. Especially if the card is issued to a centre-back who is assigned to shut out the opposition’s best player. Araujo and Cubarsi were pivotal in keeping Kylian Mbappe silent during the first-leg win at the Parc Des Princes.
Immediately after the red card, it was clear that Xavi had to make a change to balance out the team. His substitution was a rather shocking one as he decided to replace youngster Lamine Yamal to bring in Inigo Martinez. Although the decision raised eyebrows as Yamal was the best player on the pitch until that point, it was clear that Xavi needed someone alongside Cubarsi as the young defender did not have enough experience of playing in a tournament like the UCL. Removing anyone in the Barcelona attack would be difficult, but Xavi had to make the tough call and take out the prodigy to make room for Martinez at the back.
To add salt to their wounds, Dembele, who was at Barca last season, put on a show against his former team. After scoring the first goal, Dembele also won his side a penalty in the second half. He was constantly getting booed by the fans at the Olympic Stadium, but the French player let his game do the talking.
Barcelona failed to make the most of their chances
Lewandowski had several chances to pull Barca into the game, but the Polish striker was unable to make the most of it. Raphina seemed to be the only player who was looking like a threat in the frontline. Although the red card did affect the game, Barca did not help themselves as they lost the ball far too easily in the middle of the park, which gave the Parisians the green light to attack.
Barcelona will be disappointed at the result as they had one foot in the semi-finals after the first 20 minutes. However, this has been a repeated pattern for the club this season as they have failed to show consistency and given up leads earlier as well. With a new coach set to come in next season, the management needs to address this situation by bringing in more leaders, who will bring some calmness to this young but immensely talented side.
