With the last-eight clashes upon us, James Richardson and our panel of experts discuss the key talking points
Goal.com’s expert Paul MacDonald believes that Zlatan Ibrahimovic cannot be mentioned in the same breath as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo until he wins the Champions League.
MacDonald, James Richardson and Carlo Garganese discussed the quarter-final clash between Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain ahead of Tuesday night’s first leg at Parc des Princes.
The Swede is widely considered one of the finest strikers on the planet but one of our experts made the case that his lack of European success leaves him with a noticeable gap on his silverware shelf.
MacDonald said: “He’s got a point to prove to Barcelona and the Champions League in general. A lot of people still believe that for Ibrahimovic to be regarded as an equal to Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo he needs to collect a winners’ medal in this tournament.
“I think he looked at PSG’s project and felt it was his final chance to win the trophy.”
Both Celtic and AC Milan have shown this season that Barca can be beaten away from home, but Garganese elaborated how he sees the Catalunya club as being beaten over two legs.
He said: “PSG need to stay compact and deny Barcelona the space to play. If you watch Milan in the first leg of the last round, there was no more than 30 yards between the defence and attack for the entire match.
“They’ll need to slow the game down and take their chances. Again, if you look back to the Milan game, if M’Baye Niang had taken his at 1-0 they’d probably have gone through.”
Can Champions League-winning coach Carlo Ancelotti engineer a victory over the formidable Barca? Or will the 2010-11 champions waltz into the final four?
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