FC Barcelona – PSG: Luis Enrique won his psychological war with Xavi!

At the Parc des Princes, Xavi won a great battle. Tuesday evening, for his return to Catalonia, Luis Enrique, visibly a fan of remontadas, won the war. Buoyed by the achievements of Ousmane Dembélé, Vitinha and Kylian Mbappé, author of a double, the Parisians effectively defeated Barça (4-1) and will therefore find Borussia Dortmund in the last four of the competition. A stunning victory which will have allowed, at the same time, the Ile-de-France technician to take great revenge on his compatriot now sitting on the Blaugrana bench. Before this clash at the summit, the two men – who never formed a real bond – had also engaged in a nice skirmish.

The rest after this ad

Revealing pre-match speeches…

At a press conference, Luis Enrique claimed to have more Barça DNA than Xavi. Comments which did not fail to provoke a reaction and which the former coach of La Roja defused somewhat without, however, returning to the substance. “On Xavi, anything I can say will be badly received. What is interesting is the controversy. I made my claim, I maintain it. A defeat is not going to change my opinion. I won’t have the opportunity to be coached by Xavi. But he is at the top, the results show it”. Faced with journalists, the architect of the Blaugranas preferred to praise his compatriot. “Perhaps with Luis Aragonés and Pep Guardiola, they are the coaches who have had the greatest impact on me. Today, as a coach, I remember more things. What I have to do here or there, I think of them. They marked me. And Luis Enrique is clearly not ready to get out of his head…

To read
Barça-PSG: Daniel Riolo is enthusiastic about the Parisian triumph

In the theater of dreams of Marie-José Pérec, crowned Olympic 400m champion in 1992, Xavi will, in fact, have experienced a nightmarish evening on the Blaugrana bench. Despite Raphinha opening the score even before the end of the first quarter of an hour of play, the 44-year-old technician saw his ambitions trampled by numerical inferiority coupled with the Parisian awakening. Orphaned by Ronald Araujo, excluded for having hooked Barcola in the position of last defender, Barça finally gradually gave up their weapons against the offensive armada of the Rouge et Bleu (Dembélé, Vitinha and double from Mbappé). A terrible scenario with even more special resonance when we remember the words made by the Catalan technician a few hours before the fight…

The rest after this ad

Xavi totally fell for it

“It will be important to control emotions and temperament. An expulsion would affect us greatly. It will be very difficult, but we have to show the best face and the best personality of the team. This will be one of the keys to success”, warned Xavi. An emotional management which ultimately proved to be faulty in the Catalan ranks. From the mistake committed by Ronald Araujo to the penalty stupidly conceded by Joao Cancelo, including the repeated bloody attacks from the Barcelona staff (Xavi and his deputy were excluded), Barça has completely lost its nerve. How then can we explain such tension? Was Xavi only annoyed by Istvan Kovacs’ refereeing decisions or did he suddenly see himself overwhelmed by the stakes of this quarter-final? Worse still, wasn’t he venting a greater frustration, that of giving up his arms against Luis Enrique?

So many questions for which it seems difficult to give a definitive answer. However, one observation remains unrelenting. Far from this exacerbated rage, the Parisian collective distinguished itself by a certain calm, almost worrying. Throughout the week preceding this decisive shock, Luis Enrique had tried to play down things, preferring to display his extreme confidence. A speech which ultimately had the merit of embarking all his troops towards a resounding feat. Confident in their strength, the Parisians never completely collapsed, not even after Raphinha opened the score in the 12th minute of play. Present at the press conference, the Rouge et Bleu coach attributed this mental serenity to the support unconditional fans.

The rest after this ad

“Our supporters have been with us all season. PSG is a team that struggles and works. You can play badly or well but the connection with the supporters is the most important. It’s a very strong feeling. Now we have to take advantage and think about the next objectives”. And to add: “It’s difficult to play against Barça. Emotionally it was difficult. I had to manage my emotions. I feel very happy. My team deserved, they were present throughout the match and played exceptionally well. We didn’t deserve to concede a goal. We pressed, the attackers did an exceptional job. The expulsion played an important role. But the result is correct. We would have preferred to go to Spain but we will go to Dortmund whose level we know well”. Before that, Luis Enrique can congratulate himself on having defeated a bitter Xavi…