A detailed, player-by-player breakdown of Barcelona's impressive Champions League win against PSG.
| Marc-Andre ter Stegen |
7.9 |
|
Minutes played: 90
Touches: 43
Passes: 27
Pass Accuracy: 93%
Shots Faced: 2
Saves Made: 2
Cross claims: 3
Bostjan says: 8.0
Barcelona really have an excellent goalkeeping tandem, don’t they? Ter Stegen has completed Claudio Bravo excellently recently after a bit of a rocky start to his Barcelona career, and he was rock solid against Paris Saint-Germain. He was a commanding presence in his penalty area, collecting three crosses, and while he wasn’t tested an awful lot, he maintained his concentration to make two saves in the second half, the first a beauty on a powerful Zlatan Ibrahimović shot. And, as always, his passing was sublime. |
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| Dani Alves |
8.1 |
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Minutes played: 90
Touches: 101
Passes: 87
Pass Accuracy: 84%
Key Passes: 1
Fouls Won: 0
Tackles: 0
Shots/Shots on Target: 2/1
Clearances: 0
Fouls: 3
Interceptions: 3
Bostjan says: 8.5
You know, if Dani played at a level he displayed in the first half of this game, there would be no talk about Montoya replacing the Brazilian. The clinic he put on in the opening 45 minutes reminded all of us of Alves’ best years. He was dribbling past opponents with ease, sending gorgeous crosses into the penalty, creating danger. One of his crosses turned assist as Neymar was able to head the ball home. Alves faded a bit in the second half, making a couple poor choices, but the first half was a true masterclass. |
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| Gerard Pique |
7.2 |
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Minutes played: 90
Touches: 66
Passes: 48
Pass Accuracy: 92%
Tackles: 2
Interceptions: 3
Clearances: 5
Fouls: 0
Bostjan says: 7.0
Pique continued with his run of mixed performances, again making some good and some terrible plays in 90 minutes. Highlighting his terrible ones were a couple of absolutely atrocious clearances, one of which ended in the hands of ter Stegen while the other turned out to be a perfect assist for Marco Verratti who, thankfully, missed the target. It wasn’t all bad though as he made a couple very important tackles and interceptions as well. |
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| Javier Mascherano |
7.5 |
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Minutes played: 90
Touches: 66
Passes: 58
Pass Accuracy: 97%
Tackles: 0
Interceptions: 2
Clearances: 4
Successful Dribbles: 1
Fouls: 0
Bostjan says: 7.5
Considering the firepower PSG have up front it was quite surprising how little Mascherano was tested. He was well positioned on most plays which might have made tougher plays look easier than they were. Mascherano was most active during PSG’s last push for a consolidation goal when he made numerous important plays to prevent a PSG goal. Especially important was his interception in the dying moments of the game that without his intervention surely would’ve resulted in a goal. |
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| Jordi Alba |
7.5 |
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Minutes played: 90
Touches: 108
Passes: 97
Pass Accuracy: 90%
Shots/Shots on Target: 0/0
Tackles: 2
Interceptions: 2
Clearances: 2
Key Passes: 0
Fouls: 0
Bostjan says: 7.5
Like his teammate on the other side of the defensive like Alba also had an excellent game. But while Alves shined in attack, Alba excelled in defense. Alba wasn’t, by design, involved much in attack, but he more than made up for it with an excellent defensive showing. He made two impressive plays on Blaise Matuidi midway through the first half, first stripping that ball away from him with a tackle and then reading the play brilliantly to, again, steal the ball away from Matuidi. |
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| Sergio Busquets |
7.6 |
|
Minutes played: 54
Touches: 44
Passes: 38
Pass Accuracy: 90%
Tackles: 3
Interceptions: 1
Shots/Shots on Target: 0/0
Clearances: 0
Aerial Duels Won: 3
Turnovers: 2
Key passes: 0
Sam says: 7.0
A good performance from Busquets as he soaked up the pressure from the PSG counterattacks before quickly restarting the Barça attacks. His defensive contribution was good with three tackles and an interception but his passing was slightly lower then usual, completing just 38 passes. However he did only play 54 minutes and his absence was noted when PSG began to create more chances. |
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| Andres Iniesta |
8.7 |
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Minutes played: 45
Touches: 60
Passes: 58
Pass Accuracy: 90%
Shots/Shots on Target: 0/0
Turnovers: 2
Key Passes: 1
Successful Dribbles: 5
Tackles: 1
Sam says: 8.5
It says a lot about Iniesta’s performance that he was in the running for MotM despite only playing half of it. Iniesta was simply mesmerising and no doubt by now you will have seen endless GIFs of him dribbling past practically the entire PSG team before assisting Neymar for the opening goal. He continued to push forward looking for the ball before cleverly working it into the box, he was a threat throughout the time he was on the field. He completed just shy of 50 passes before withdrawing at half time, perhaps with other games on the horizon. |
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| Ivan Rakitić |
7.6 |
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Minutes played: 90
Touches: 89
Passes: 78
Pass Accuracy: 95%
Shots/Shots on Target: 1/1
Fouls Won: 2
Turnovers: 3
Tackles: 1
Key Passes: 2
Interceptions: 2
Sam says: 7.5
Another impressive European performance from Rakitić in which he displayed the kind of attributes that convinced Barça to sign him. He helped out with the defence whilst also being an option in attack which gave him the appearance of seemingly being everywhere. While his midfield partner Iniesta produced the magic from midfield, Rakitić made sure Barça didn’t get caught out when going forward. |
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| Luis Suarez |
7.4 |
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Minutes played: 74
Touches: 40
Passes: 31
Pass Accuracy: 68%
Shots/Shots on Target: 0/0
Turnovers: 3
Successful Dribbles: 1
Key Passes: 1
Fouls Won: 1
Tackles: 0
Ahmed says: 7.5
Exceptional work ethic and link-up play. Just like Neymar, it's clear that he's getting better every week. Didn't have many opportunities, yet played a vital role. His unselfish movement left Neymar with a lot of space to capitalise on. Suarez was replaced by Pedro on the 75th minute and was rightly given a standing ovation. |
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| Lionel Messi |
7.5 |
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Minutes played: 90
Touches: 94
Passes: 69
Pass Accuracy: 90%
Shots/Shots on Target: 4/1
Fouls Won: 3
Successful Dribbles: 7
Key Passes: 0
Turnovers: 3
Tackles: 1
Ahmed says: 7.0
A quiet performance but did what he had to do. It's evident that Messi was conserving his energy, especially since he was not required to be at his best and with further challenges to come. Yet we still witnessed flashes of brilliance with his mesmerising dribbling and intelligent passing. Came close to scoring a couple of times, including a shot that was inches wide of the post in injury time. |
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| Neymar |
9.0 |
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Minutes played: 90
Touches: 77
Passes: 55
Pass Accuracy: 80%
Shots/Shots on Target: 3/3
Tackles: 1
Key Passes: 2
Successful Dribbles: 6
Turnovers: 0
Ahmed says: 9.0
Man of the match and the star of the show (along with Andres Iniesta). Not only did he have flicks and tricks aplenty but Neymar demonstrated substance with some ruthless finishing. Exquisite all-round play and six completed dribbles is impressive. He never stopped threatening, running or passing. There is still room for improvement with his decision making in the final third. Yet Neymar has now scored five goals in four games against PSG this season. They'll be pleased that they won't be facing him again anytime soon. |
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| Xavi |
7.4 |
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Minutes played: 45
Touches: 60
Passes: 57
Pass Accuracy: 95%
Fouls Won: 4
Arron says: 7.5
Masterclass is probably too strong a term, but Xavi's introduction at the interval for Andres Iniesta certainly changed the dynamic of the match. After the break, we had more possession and Xavi was to thank, both for his passing and all-round intelligent as he won a plethora of fouls in his 45 minutes. Timeless. |
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| Sergi Roberto |
6.8 |
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Minutes played: 36
Touches: 40
Passes: 32
Pass Accuracy: 88%
Clearances: 4
Arron says: 7.0
I actually really like Sergi Roberto, which probably leaves me all alone in some strange corner of the Barcelona universe. He's totally inoffensive, and can perform a number of roles quite competently. There were times when he seemed either out of his depth, or a little lazy on Tuesday, but he got away with it and helped rest some legs, so a thumbs up from me. |
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| Pedro |
6.4 |
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Minutes played: 16
Touches: 21
Passes: 20
Pass Accuracy: 85%
Key Passes: 1
Arron says: N/A
One of these days, Pedro will score again, or do something of note. Something, anything that gives me something to write about. Oh, who am I kidding -- Pedro isn't going to get into any rhythm off the bench, and that's probably why he seems to be struggling at the moment. Quiet, again. |
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| The Team | 8.7 |
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Passes: 766
Pass Accuracy: 89%
Shots/Shots on Target: 11/6
Tackles: 14
Aerial Battles Won: 37%
Fouls Won/Committed: 16/11
Arron says: 9.5
My most poignant memories watching this match were the Iniesta dribble, and the frequency with which I was shaking my head at the television screen in disbelief, sometimes quite literally saying "no, this team is just too good". And by God, I think i might be right; we were literally toying with one of the best teams in the world. They knocked out Chelsea for heaven's sake, and here we were, batting them around as if they were a bunch of schoolchildren. Berlin is a very real possibility at this rate. |
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| Luis Enrique |
8.3 |
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Arron says: 8.5
The selection was a little stronger than I expected, but then again, it was still a UEFA Champions League match against Paris Saint-Germain. And hey, I had a bunch of fun watching us tear them apart, so thanks Lucho! And nice subs too, although one of these days it'd be great if you could pull off Leo. Like, just once. |
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| MOTM - Neymar |
74% |
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Bostjan says: Neymar
To little surprise it was the scorer of both goals that accumulated most of the votes, nearly three quarters of them. The only player that reached double digits in percentage was Iniesta who picked up 14%. Messi finished a distant third with 4%. |
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