Barcelona vs PSG predictions: Barca to finish the job

Aidan Perkins
Spotlight
Xavi is hoping to bow out of the Barca job after leading them to European glory
Xavi is hoping to bow out of the Barca job after leading them to European glory

- Barcelona lead 3-2 from first leg
- PSG had free weekend to prepare for second leg
- Recommended bet:
Barcelona to win and both teams to score

Barcelona's 3-2 lead from the first leg puts them in a great position to knock out Paris Saint-Germain and make the Champions League semi-finals.

Barca edged to a narrow victory in Paris last week and now back at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys, Xavi's men should be able to complete the job.

PSG will be fired up to try and pull off a rescue act and we should expect more excitement along the way but ultimately Barca can progress.

Team news

After coming off the bench to score the winner in the first leg, Andreas Christensen was then booked and subsequently misses Tuesday's game through suspension.

Sergi Roberto is also banned for the hosts, who remain without long-term injury victims Gavi and Alejandro Balde.

Xavi will recall key players like Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha, Pedri, Frenkie de Jong and Ilkay Gundogan after they were all rested at the weekend against Cadiz.

PSG do not have any supensions to deal with but Presnel Kimpembe, Layvin Kurzawa and Nordi Mukiele are still unavailable due to injury.

The stats

Barcelona have won their last six games in all competitions and are unbeaten in 13 overall after Saturday's 1-0 win at Cadiz.

PSG's defeat in the first leg was their first loss overall in 28 games.

PSG knocked out the Catalan giants 5-2 on aggregate at the last-16 stage in 2021, while Barca memorably overturned a 4-0 first-leg deficit in 2017 at the same stage when winning the second leg at home 6-1.

PSG coach Luis Enrique was Barca boss between 2014-2017, winning LaLiga twice and he was in charge when the club last lifted the Champions League trophy in 2015.

Luis Enrique returns to Spain to take on Barca again with PSG
Luis Enrique returns to Spain to take on Barca again with PSG

Prediction

Barca are finishing the campaign strongly and their long unbeaten run, which stretches back to the end of January, cannot be ignored.

They may remain 7/1 to win the competition with LiveScore Bet, reflecting the feeling that this current Barca side are not quite of the calibre of previous incarnations, but they look good enough to see off PSG in the last eight.

Barca had to dig deep to secure the vital first-leg lead after the French giants came from 1-0 down to lead 2-1 early in the second half.

Goals from the impressive Raphinha, who had also scored Barca's first goal, and Christensen turned things in the visitors' favour again and they will be confident of booking a semi spot.

PSG more than played their part in the first leg and actually had more possession and attempts at goal last week.

A side blessed with the talents of Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele and Marco Asensio deserve to be respected and the fact they have had a free weekend to rest and recover for the trip to Barcelona means they will be very dangerous.

Enrique's side look set to score again but as they chase the game to try and recover the deficit, they are likely to leave plenty of space for Barca to exploit them on the break again.

Win up to £250,000 with LiveScore 6!

Win up to £250,000 with our free-to-play game, LiveScore 6! 

Tags

BarcelonaParis Saint-GermainChampions League