Barcelona cruised to victory in their second leg Champions League clash with Paris Saint-Germain, and the La Liga giants have shown once again that they are real contenders to lift the trophy once again this year.
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The Catalan club came into the game with a 3-1 aggregate lead, with PSG struggling at home in the first leg. Three goals from the Ligue 1 side certainly wasn’t out of the question, but it seemed unlikely that they would be able to overturn the deficit – especially at the Nou Camp.
Barcelona looked in control right from the off, and the result never really looked in question. You could tell the defenders were going to be in for a tough night when David Luiz picked up a yellow card for almost his first involvement in the game.
This was just the first of many mistakes from the former Chelsea man, and he was targeted for some heavy criticism after his performance.
It took the home side just 14 minutes to open the scoring, with Luiz partially to blame for conceding. Andres Iniesta glided through midfield, riding challenges and ghosting towards the box. He played a lovely ball through to Neymar, and with Luiz’s square position leaving him flat footed when the pass was delivered, he ended up stumbling clumsily as his compatriot danced into the box.
The Brazilian talisman skillfully took it round the goalkeeper, before slotting in a simple finish to make it 1-0 on the night.
Neymar was on hand to double his side’s lead later in the half, and Luiz was again at fault.
Dani Alves put a good cross in from the right, which perhaps would have been difficult to deal with anyway. The former Blue made it that much more problematic however, stepping out needlessly and allowing the ball to float over his head – Neymar able to nod home after being given a free run on the ball. 2-0.
PSG were better in the second half, but by this point Barcelona were arguably in cruise control. The visitors rarely looked like scoring, and their best chance fell to Marco Verratti – who drilled his shot wide.
It finished 5-1 on aggregate, and the Spaniards sent yet another message out to their rivals.