Sorry for the Barca fan, I'm not trying to make this worse for you guys but can someone who actually watched the game help me analyse what happened. I somehow manage to completely forget about today CL and ended up missing the game. :( Please leave the trolling out of here, this thread is not for that. Thanks in advance guys. ;)

PSG were like demons. They chased every ball, closed down every run, from the back 4 to the front 3. They didn't let Barca have any time to settle on the ball, and ended up with 12 shots on target to Barcelona's 1.

That stat alone tells the story of the day. Aside from Neymar, you saw barely a peep from the MSN, because PSG were so busy taking it off of the Barcelona midfield and defense.

Like you say, no disrespect intended to Barcelona or Barca fans, but that was an immense performance from the Parisians.

Bravo, and to quote SAF:

Football.... bloody hell.

@Lodatz Thanks pal, that exactly what I wanted to know. Impressive to see how good PSG were in that game. Congrats to them.

The Barca midfield was shockingly bad. Like really, really bad. They couldn't pass it out of defense, and when they did, the midfielders just gave it away.

@Sunflash Ok, who would you say was worse in midfield? Busquet, Gomes, Iniesta or some of the subs?

^All of them? Not just the midfield. All of them.
PSG made them look poor. They were strong, sharp and avid. All together killed the game of Barcelona.

@Emrecan In that case, am I wrong in interpreting that Barca didn't especially underperform, but that it was simply PSG who was a level above in this game and it paid off for them?

Yes, I think.
I mean, Messi especially underperform, that's for sure. But for the others, PSG was a level above. Neymar was the only one tried for a positive outcome but wasn't enough.

@Emrecan Ok, thanks pal, really give me a better idea of what the game was like.

Little correction to FR highlights, that was a 4-5-1 not a 4-3-3 at least on the pitch.
I ll just copy paste my highlights comment.

" Deserved win, some were walking others were playing the game of their lives. Could have been worse if Cavani scored first half chances... Time for Enrique to go, he went to war with 2 players not recovered yet Busquets and Iniesta, combining them with sloppy Gomes... whats the point of rotations and loosing pts in the league if you can't play new commers when needed...There is still a 1% chance but then it's the only way to get rid of this amator coach fired by Roma. I fear Messi departure with this shitty management of Bartomeu. "

Playing with 4-3-3 away with a shaky midlefield praying for a messiah miracle is enough, its plain stupid or absolutely disrespectful for the opposition who punished Enrique ignorance...

If there is someone that love Busquets-Iniesta the most in the forum it has to be me, but there is no point playing players not able to run at 100% with a player with average ball control Gomes and hope Messi tracks back start the action from midlefield And end up scoring or creating chances.
The front 3 are the best offensively, they do not track back and they need a world class midlefield to help defense. The most unbalanced Barca I have seen since Bayern semi finals, and then same thing happened shaky 4-3-3 with off form Busquets.

Once upon a time I've said if you want a chance vs Barca, mark Busquets individually... guess who Emery picked for that role, Cavani. That was a piece of Genius from the coach who won Europa league 4 times in a row.
Unai Emery may have his haters, for me he is there with the best coaches on the planet. But here he clearly got helped by an amator coach who's only merit is to have Messi on the team he manages....

End of rant.

I already stated my opinion in the match highlights, but it seems like every Barça fan around the world crawled out of their holes to disagree with me. If it wasn't clear before, here is my statement. PSG Killed us, Yes, they killed us and I'm not gonna equivocate on that Now, once again, watching the 2nd half, there were some "questionable", to say at the least, calls which I think went against Barcelona. Of course, I might just get killed for saying this, but thats what I saw.

Hopefully the second leg will be a little more interesting.

@SoccerBoss Don't worry pal, people might disagree with you but nobody gonna kill, if there is anything, I'll jump in front of the bullet in time. ;)

@tiki Nice share, my sympathy lad, never easy to see the team you support lose like that. All the best mate despite this. ;)

I watched the whole game and the referee was fair. You can't expect every game to be like La Liga where you get whistled for breathing on a player. It's not PSG's fault that Barca have soft and small players. The only guys on that starting lineup who can take hits are Messi and Umtiti.

I've said this before, You close down Busquets, you get your win. Barcelona cannot win a game when Busquets is off form unless one of their MSN plays sensational. Especially with Rabbiot and Verrarti pressuring Barca's attack and midfield, with Matuidi supporting the attack. Man PSG were insane yesterday. Meunier and Kimpembe were impressive as well, especially the last run from meunier, he dribbles Neymar and runs to the other half as if it was a walk in the park, where were Barca's midfield that time? No one was trying to intercept or pressurize PSG's counters.

Every player was amazing, I applaud PSG for this terrific performance. Barcelona may have a small chance to get back if they go all out. It's not impossible especially with a front 3 like Barca. Anything can happen, but PSG won't go easy away as well, no mater their scoreline.

What dynastian said +1. The referee was superb. 10 of 10.

Messi's contribution to this game was that he kept on his legs. A valuable and appreciated quality of his.

PSG was just amazing. One of the better performances I've ever seen.

Barca's midfield was too slow and we're outnumbered by 5 vs 3 in the midfield.

The ref was a 100 out of 10, fast paced football without the usual dive calls. Remember last years 16 foul calls on favor of Barca when it was pure diving? You are just sore losers if you think ref scored 4 and kept a clean sheet vs PSG.

Last but not least PSG defended EXACTLY like most PL teams defend against the higher tier teams. I swear Emery defended exactly like Pullis does vs tough matches[I can give you 20 more examples of that defending with matches]. The moment something was about to happen a foul was made that could not trigger card for the ref but it was enough to stop the Barcelona build up. Ref should also throw Neymar with a yellow at the dive and a 2nd for pushing Trapp and giving him an angry bieber look like Trapp would be afraid of his sissyness.

Oh and Happy Valentine to everyone

Emery already had the experience against Barca. He knew exactly what he needed to do. Enrique doesnt have a secondary plan and PSG just pressured everyone everywhere. Barca tried playing out the back? PSG was there. Barca tried doing a build up at the half? PSG was there. This game could have ended something like 8-0 is PSG was deadlier but thats what cost them a lot of games, especially against Arsenal. Playing Iniesta-Busquets-Gomes was a mistake by enrique, too slow, too inaccurate, couldnt cope with the high pace high pressure PSG brought.

Second leg will end in similar terms. Expect barca to go all out from the get go and PSG to hit on counters.

@raimondon So most of you guys agreed Enrique decision for the midfield was bad but I'm wondering, who would you have put there yourselfs guys? Just wondering.

this is crap. how did that happen.......

psg are not supposed to be THAT good. i wish i coulda seen the game to know what exactly went wrong

I have said it before . Have a good honest referee that doesn't slow down the tempo of the game for every little foul in favor of Barcelona and they will loose badly .