PSG will host Barca in the QF-1 of UCL 2023-24 on Tuesday

The French club PSG will face Spanish giants Barcelona in the first leg quarterfinal of the UCL 2023-24 on Tuesday(09th April 2024) at Parc des Princes, France. It is going to be their 13th meeting in UCL history, both sides have won the 4 matches each, whereas their four matches ended in a deadlock. There are at least two names in the PSG camp currently who are very familiar with Barcelona. First is Luis Enrique, former Barcelona coach for the 2014-2017 period. Second is Ousmane Dembele, a French winger who previously played for Barcelona from 2017 to 2023.

In the previous round, Barcelona eliminated Napoli 4-2 on aggregate, drawing 1-1 in the first leg in Italy, Xavi's team progressed after winning 3-1 through goals from Fermin Lopez, Joao Cancelo and Robert Lewandowski in the second leg. Meanwhile, PSG eliminated Barcelona's 'compatriots', namely Real Sociedad. The French side PSG won 2-0 in Paris, then won 2-1 in Spain, and progressed 4-1 on aggregate to the quarter-finals. The 25-year-old Kylian Mbappe contributed three of PSG's total four goals against Sociedad.

Barcelona is unbeaten in the last 11 matches, won eight matches, their three matches ended in a deadlock but PSG has a much better record than Barca. PSG is untouched by defeat in the last 27 matches, won nineteen matches, and their eight matches ended in a deadlock. PSG seems quite worthy of being the favourite to win this first leg. In their recent five league matches, PSG won four of 5 matches and one match ended in a stalemate, on the other hand, Barca won four of 5 matches and in one match they shared a point. 

PSG and Barca faced each other back in 2020-21 in a UCL clash in the round of 16 where the French club secured a 5-2 aggregate win over Barcelona beating them 1-4 in the first leg and playing a deadlock in the second leg with a score line of 1-1. Mbappe was the star of the match for PSG, smashing a superb hat-trick at Camp Nou and taking PSG in the next round of the tournament. 

Match Details

Match: PSG vs Barcelona

Date: Thursday, 11th April 2024

Time: 12:30 AM IST

Venue: Parc des Princes

Head to Head: PSG vs Barcelona

PSG wins: 4

Draw: 4

Barcelona wins: 4.

Last 5 Meetings of PSG and Barcelona

• PSG 1-1 Barcelona (Champions League)
• Barcelona 1-4 PSG (Champions League)
• Barcelona 6-1 PSG (Champions League)
• PSG 4-0 Barcelona (Champions League)
• Barcelona 2-0 PSG (Champions League).

Last 5 matches of PSG

• PSG 3-1 Nice (Coupe de France)
• Montpellier 2-6 PSG (Ligue 1)
• Marseille 0-2 PSG (Ligue 1)
• PSG 1-0 Rennes (Coupe de France)
• PSG 1-1 Clermont (Ligue 1).

Last 5 matches of Barcelona

• Bilbao 0-0 Barcelona (La Liga)
• Barcelona 1-0 Mallorca (La Liga)
• Barcelona 3-1 Napoli (Champions League)
• Atletico 0-3 Barcelona (La Liga)
• Barcelona 1-0 Las Palmas (La Liga).
  

PSG vs Barcelona Probable Playing XI:

PSG (4-3-1-2): Donnarumma; Hakimi, Pereira, Beraldo, Hernandez; Zaire-Emery, Vitinha, Fabian Ruiz; Dembele; Muani, Mbappe.

Coach: Luis Enrique.

Barcelona (4-3-3): Ter Stegen; Kounde, Cubarsi, Martinez, Cancelo; Fermin Lopez, Gundogan, Sergi Roberto; Yamal, Lewandowski, Raphinha.

Coach: Xavi.

Match Prediction: PSG 2-1 Barcelona.