(Football news) Barcelona won the first leg of their quarterfinal match 3-2 in the French capital last week, therefore they will go into the second leg at Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys with a slim advantage.

Barcelona has been in outstanding form since Xavi revealed that he would be leaving his position as head coach this summer. In 13 games across all competitions, the team has gone undefeated while picking up 10 victories.

The iconic former midfielder is still adamant about leaving, but the Catalan team’s management is still holding out hope that Xavi may be persuaded to stay on till the end of the season. For the time being, though, the attention is on the remainder of the season as Barcelona competes for two titles. 

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.

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.

While they reached the championship game in 2019–20, PSG has not advanced past the round of sixteen in any of their previous three editions. They were last seen in the semi-finals in 2020–21.

Both teams would have preferred to be on this side of the draw, as the victor will play either Atletico Madrid or Borussia Dortmund for a spot in the championship. However, the capital team will be mindful of the magnitude of the task they face against an in-form Barcelona.

Also read: Borussia Dortmund will play Atletico Madrid in UCL