FC Barcelona defeated Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) 3-2 in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals of the 2023-2024 season at the Parc des Princes in Paris, France, early on Wednesday morning.
Barcelona scored the opening goal. The hosts took the lead in the 37th minute of the first leg when Hapinha rattled the net. PSG responded with back-to-back goals from Ousmane Dembele and Vitinha in the third and sixth minutes of the second half, but goals from Hapina and Andreas Christensen in the 17th and 32nd minutes of the second half gave Barcelona a 3-2 victory.
After the match, the UEFA Champions League published an interview with Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez on its official website.
“I’m very proud of my team. If I don’t feel proud now, I don’t know when I will,” he said, adding that he was happy with his team’s victory.
“PSG are a great team and we tried to reduce their influence tonight, we aimed for a goal to take them down and we achieved it, especially in the first half when we pressed well from high up the pitch,” he said.
Chavi added: “It’s really hard to defend well against PSG, 카지노사이트 but I think we did a pretty good job in this game. It was a big opportunity to be back in the quarterfinals after so long and we all understood that. Our players were confident, but nothing is over yet,” he said.
“Our defense understood perfectly what they had to do.”
There were a lot of individual battles. Ramin Yamal, Hapinha and others were at their best. We know that PSG is strong individually. We were good in attack and defense,” he said with satisfaction.
“I think the Barcelona fans can be happy with our performance. Now it’s time to prepare for the second leg.” “I’m a Barcelona fan and I’m happy with the result, but it’s not the end of the journey. We still have a lot of work to do,” he added.
After a convincing away win in the first leg, Barcelona will host PSG on Sunday.
If they win that match, Barça will reach the last four for the first time since the 2018-2019 season. Motivation is high.
However, despite this achievement, Barça”s coach, 안전놀이터 Xavi, is leaving the club at the end of the season. The coach himself announced that this is his last season with the club due to poor results. Interestingly, Barça has been on the rise since the announcement of Chavi”s departure.
“I don’t want him to leave,” said Chavi’s protégé Pedri. Honestly, we played for him. As long as he is here, we will play to the best of our abilities,” he said, adding that “even he is a former Barça player, which motivates us to work as hard as he did.”
Pedri added: “To be honest, I hope Chavi changes his mind. I want him to stay and continue coaching us. All the players, including me, want him to stay with us,” he added.