Prediction Champions League - Barcelona vs Paris Saint-Germain

Champions League - Barcelona vs Paris Saint-Germain
Match Time: 17-04-2024 03:00 Wednesday (GMT+8)
Football Livescore | Match Prediction & Tips
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Barcelona

Barcelona's form since Xavi announced that he would be standing down as head coach this summer has been excellent, going 13 games unbeaten in all competitions, recording 10 wins in the process.

Those in charge of the Catalan outfit remain hopeful that Xavi can be convinced to stay on beyond the end of the season, but the legendary former midfielder continues to insist that he will be departing; for now, the focus is on the rest of the campaign, as Barcelona fight for two trophies.

Raphinha was the star of the show in Paris in the first leg, netting a brace, while Andreas Christensen came up with the winner in the 77th minute, so Barcelona will enter this fixture with a 3-2 advantage.

The Catalan side were incredibly eliminated in the group stage of both the 2021-22 and 2022-23 Champions League tournaments, while they have not progressed past the quarter-finals since 2018-19, when they were beaten by Liverpool in the final four, and their last final appearance was in 2015, overcoming Juventus to win the trophy.

Barcelona lead the overall head-to-head against PSG, boasting six wins to the French outfit's four, but they suffered a 4-1 home loss to the capital giants in the last-16 first leg back in February 2021.

Xavi's side will enter this match off the back of a 1-0 win over Cadiz in La Liga on Saturday, and they have been victorious in each of their last four in the league; Real Madrid, though, have an eight-point advantage over second-placed Barcelona at the summit ahead of El Clasico next weekend.

Paris Saint-Germain

PSG, meanwhile, have not been in action since the first leg, with their last Ligue 1 game coming at home to Clermont on April 6, sharing the points in a 1-1 draw, which left them 10 points clear at the top of the table.

Unless something extraordinary happens, another Ligue 1 championship will be secured this season, but the Champions League is the trophy that this club really want, and it would be some story if a certain Kylian Mbappe could help the team win the competition as a parting gift.

Luis Enrique's side were far from convincing in the group stage of the competition, only picking up eight points from their six matches, but they managed to finish second behind Borussia Dortmund, before recording a 4-1 success over Real Sociedad in the round of 16.

PSG were last present in the semi-finals in 2020-21, while they made the final in 2019-20, but two of their last three tournaments have ended in the round of 16.

The capital outfit will be aware of the size of the task facing them against an in-form Barcelona, but this is the side of the draw that both sides would have wanted to have been in, as the winner will take on either Atletico Madrid or Borussia Dortmund for a position in the final.

Prediction: Barcelona 2-1 Paris Saint-Germain