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This week sees the return of the Champions League, with Europe’s biggest competition moving into the last 16. And on Tuesday, two of Europe’s biggest giants clash.
Barcelona play host to Paris St. Germain at the Nou Camp in the first leg of their meeting, and both of these sides will probably be confident of a win.
With that in mind, where will this battle of giants be decided? And will it be Ronald Koeman’s Barca who come out on top, or Mauricio Pochettino’s PSG?
Here are five key battles that could decide the match when Barcelona face Paris St. Germain.
#1 Lionel Messi (Barcelona) vs. Marquinhos (Paris St. Germain)
At 33 years old, the idea that Lionel Messi would begin to slow down soon has been floating around for years now.
And yet, despite rumors persisting that his time at Barcelona may soon be coming to an end, the Argentine wizard simply never stops producing the goods on the pitch.
In the current campaign, Messi has already delivered a total of 19 goals for Barcelona, as well as five assists. Three of those goals have come in the four Champions League games that the Argentine has appeared in.
With Barcelona boss Ronald Koeman now firmly building his attack around Messi, with Antoine Griezmann and Ousmane Dembele as a support act, it’s clear that he will be their key player in this match.
That means it’ll be largely down to Paris St. Germain center-back Marquinhos to stop him on Tuesday.
It’s a worrying task. Thus far, the Brazilian has enjoyed an excellent season, scoring highly in all defensive statistics since moving to center-back permanently after Thiago Silva’s departure.
But Marquinhos has certainly not faced an opponent like Messi this season. And with the erratic Presnel Kimpembe alongside him, he’ll need to be at his absolute best to handle the Argentine.
With this in mind, if Messi can get the better of PSG’s defensive duo, Barcelona will be hopeful of a win.
#2 Mauro Icardi (Paris St. Germain) vs. Clement Lenglet (Barcelona)
Of course, even if Lionel Messi delivers the goods, Barcelona’s defense will need to be at their best to stop Paris St. Germain’s impressive arsenal of attackers.
Sure, Neymar is out with an injury for Tuesday’s match. However, that only means that the dangerous Mauro Icardi is almost certain to lead the line for Mauricio Pochettino’s side, which doesn’t make things any easier for Barcelona.
Icardi hasn’t always started for PSG this season, with the likes of Moise Kean and Neymar leading their line. In fact, he hasn’t yet appeared in this Champions League campaign for them due to injuries.
Even so, he’s already scored five goals and registered three assists in just eight Ligue 1 starts. And given Barcelona’s own defensive issues - conceding 21 goals in domestic competition - he’ll be hopeful of doing some damage on Tuesday.
The highly-rated Clement Lenglet is likely to be his primary opponent. But alongside him, with both Gerard Pique and Ronald Araujo injured, Barcelona might be forced to deploy midfielder Frenkie de Jong.
That means that Icardi will be up against a somewhat makeshift defense – giving him more chance of finding success.
#3 Sergio Busquets (Barcelona) vs. Marco Verratti (Paris St. Germain)
Considering the attacking riches that both Barcelona and Paris St. Germain boast, it’s easy to overlook the idea that this game might be won in midfield.
However, the battle for supremacy in the middle of the pitch will almost certainly be a key to victory for either side.
Barcelona are still hugely reliant on the metronomic passing of veteran Sergio Busquets at the base of their midfield. Now 32 years old, Busquets still doesn’t appear to be slowing down. And with 29 appearances under his belt this season already, he can still control the tempo of a game like no other.
However, without Frenkie de Jong – who is expected to be deployed in defense – alongside him, the Barcelona veteran could be more vulnerable than usual in this match.
That means that PSG’s main playmaker, Italy’s Marco Verratti, could be confident of some success.
Both Verratti and Busquets share some similarities, with their games being based around excellent passing skills. In fact, Verratti actually averages more passes per game (94.8) than Busquets (70.3), with both men’s accuracy being above 90%.
Therefore, it could be argued that the question of whether Verratti or Busquets sees more of the ball on Tuesday could well decide this match.
#4 Kylian Mbappe (Paris St. Germain) vs. Sergino Dest (Barcelona)
Still just 22 years old, it’s hard to argue with the idea that Kylian Mbappe is the world’s most exciting young attacker.
Now into his fourth season at the Parc des Princes, Mbappe’s goal rate is astonishing. He’s already scored 87 goals in just 108 appearances for Paris St. Germain. And this season has seen him score 19 and register nine assists, with two of those goals coming in the Champions League.
Mbappe is most likely to be deployed as a left-sided wide forward on Tuesday night, as he has been for the majority of the 2020-21 campaign. And that likely pits him against the defensive talents of Barcelona right-back Sergino Dest.
The US international joined Barcelona from Ajax in October, and the fact that his buyout clause is reportedly an insane €400m shows how highly the club thinks of him.
Dest has already made 23 appearances for Barca this season and returned from a minor injury to make an appearance from the bench at the weekend.
On paper, at least, you’d have to favor Mbappe to have success against the largely inexperienced American. But Dest is remarkably quick, meaning the rapid French forward could find things trickier than one might expect.
#5 Antoine Griezmann (Barcelona) vs. Alessandro Florenzi (Paris St. Germain)
Barcelona may be heavily reliant on Lionel Messi's skills to lead their attack, but the Argentine’s supporting cast has been pretty impressive during the current campaign, too.
Antoine Griezmann has still not really lived up to his huge €120m price tag just yet. But with 12 goals and six assists for Barcelona this season, he is having a strong season by anyone’s standards.
Usually deployed as a left-sided wide forward, Griezmann’s hope of affecting Tuesday’s match will be buoyed by the news that Paris St. Germain’s first-choice right-back Colin Dagba is a major doubt due to injury.
That means he’ll likely come up against Italian veteran Alessandro Florenzi. The 29-year-old has actually appeared in more games than Dagba this season. But his stats – including tackles per game, interceptions per game, and pass success rate – aren’t as good as those of the Frenchman.
And given that at 29 years old, Florenzi no longer possesses the pace he boasted in his youth, Griezmann will definitely look to test him in that area.
Essentially, all of Paris St. Germain’s defenders will have their hands full during this game. And Florenzi, in particular, will need to be at his best if Mauricio Pochettino’s side want to win.
