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Barcelona enter this UEFA Champions League (UCL) Round-of-16 (R16) clash hoping to proceed for a 14th straight season.
Barcelona Outs & Doubts: Ansu Fati, Philippe Coutinho, Sergi Roberto, Ronald Araujo (out), Gerard Piqué, Martin Braithwaite (doubt)
PSG Outs & Doubts: Neymar, Ángel Di María, Colin Dagba, Juan Bernat, Timothée Pembélé (out), Marco Verratti (doubt)
Referee: Björn Kuipers (NED)
VAR: Pol van Boekel (NED)
The five UCL wins that preceded their group matchday six defeat saw Barcelona average 1.20 goals per match beyond the hour mark, with every one of those wins seeing them convert a penalty – though none of those spot kicks proved decisive.
On the domestic scene, meanwhile, Barcelona have had to recover after conceding first in three (W1, D2) of their last five La Liga (LL) home matches. Three of their last four LL home games have also seen the second half drawn 1-1, with the final match goal coming inside the 61st-75th minute period in each of that trio.
PSG’s run to last season’s UCL final bookended a run of three successive campaigns yielding elimination at the R16 stage. Despite their poor recent record in this round, an away goal should be forthcoming here, with the Parisians scoring at least once in all R16 away-leg appearances under the post-2003 format (W4, D1, L2).
However, the visitors have conceded exactly twice before HT in each of their last three trips to Camp Nou, and PSG lament a 50% overall loss rate from meetings this century (W2, D2, L4). They ran out 6-1 losers in the last H2H here, with that match also being the sixth H2H in succession across all venues to produce a winner out of a HT leader.
Scorer of a brace at the weekend (W 5-1), Lionel Messi has averaged 1.0 first-half goal per match across Barcelona’s last five handicap-beating UCL home wins. A whole 13 years Messi’s junior, PSG striker Moise Kean netted the winner in PSG’s weekend victory over Nice, with that – alongside his two prior UCL goals – coming beyond the hour mark.
Predicted LINEUPS
Barcelona (4-3-3): Ter Stegen; Dest, Mingueza, Lenglet, Alba; De Jong, Busquets, Pedri; Dembélé, Messi, Griezmann
PSG (4-2-3-1): Navas; Florenzi, Marquinhos, Kimpembe, Kurzawa; Paredes, Gueye; Sarabia, Verratti, Mbappé; Icardi
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