Marco Verratti opened up on why Paris Saint-Germain had a conservative and careful approach in its UEFA Champions League return fixture against Barcelona.
PSG pulled away with the 1-1 draw result in the return match against Barca as it clinched the tie win. However, PSG had quite a contrasting mentality when compared to its performance in the first leg. The reigning Ligue 1 champions wound up recording three total shots on target and had 27% of possession in the match.
It became clear that PSG looked to simply hold on to the multigoal aggregate lead, which the side did in the end.
Many looked to see PSG pull off an encore-dominating performance in the second leg, but as Verratti told Sky Sport (via TuttoMercatoWeb), this was not the case for several reasons.
“This was not the choice but when you win 4-1 in the first leg, the return is always strange because you’re thinking about not allowing a goal,” Verratti said. “Barcelona is very strong in possession, when there is a chance to come back they are perfect because they take away your strength.
“It was difficult. We missed Neymar, Kean, we lacked depth that we would have had with them.”
Nonetheless, PSG wanted to notch the tie win, and it did just that. PSG will now look ahead to the upcoming Champions League quarterfinal draw.
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