FC Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez will be in top form for the Champions League quarter-final match against Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday.
The Blaugrana have an aggregate score of 3-2 in the first match of the draw at the Parc des Princes.
Despite this, Xavi already stated in his pre-match press conference on Monday that Luis Enrique’s side are favourites to qualify for the round of 16 and in the face of pressure that Barça “face one of the groups on aggregate and one of the groups on the World Cup”. coaches around the world.
“We will see a PSG that will be brave,” he added.
Xavi is also in a position to do so through a massive call-up. Although the Spanish foreigner has not been in the starting line-up since March 3, when he coincided with Athletic Club, where he was out with a recurrence in his right thigh. A knock that hit him at the start of the season, he will miss the game.
Forming a midfield trio with Frenkie de Jong, Pedri and Ilkay Gundogan is essential for Xavi as he believes that “they are players who give us and the definitive pass, as Pedri did in the first leg or Gundo in many games”.
“They’re very similar, they have pauses and they set the pace. . . We’re up against one of the most intense groups in the world and they don’t give up. With space and time, with Gundogan and Pedri, we have a lot to gain,” insisted the coach.
Other than that, Xavi’s team is almost at the level of the one that ruled PSG at home last time out.
With only Pau Cubarsi and Marc-Andre ter Stegen not resting this weekend to face Cadiz, the Blaugrana also deserve to be fresh.
To protect Ter Stegen’s goal, Cubarsi’s bureaucracy forms a central defensive partnership with Ronald Araujo, while Joao Cancelo and Jules Kounde are the left-backs and right-backs.
The midfield is as mentioned, and at best we see first-leg MVP Raphinha scoring two goals, keeping Joao Felix on the left wing, while Lamine Yamal is on the other flank with striker Robert Lewandowski wedged in the middle.
FC Barcelona Premier XI vs. Barcelona Paris Saint-Germain: Ter Stegen; Cancelo, Cubarsi, Araujo, Koundé; Gündogan, De Jong, Pedri; Raphinha, Lewandowski, Lamine