FC Barcelona defender João Cancelo found himself cast as one of the antagonists for the Catalan side. Their hopes soared when they took a 1-0 lead in the game and were up 4-2 on aggregate. But from that peak, everything swiftly unraveled, leaving the team in disarray.
In the second half, Cancelo fouled Ousmane Dembélé inside the box and the capital club had a chance to take the lead. Kylian Mbappé scored the penalty kick to give PSG a 3-1 lead in the match and a 5-4 lead on aggregate.
This key moment in the match was a center of discussion on CBS Sports, with Thierry Henry noting that the Portuguese defender couldn’t stay calm in a tense moment as the game was slipping away from Barcelona’s hands.
“You can’t recreate the crowd,” Henry said. “You can’t recreate [when you’re] down to ten men. You can’t recreate that you’re scared that they might come back in the game. How do you recreate that? People stay calm or not? For example, I don’t think [Virgil] van Dijk tackles there because he’s calm as a human being right from the start. But not everybody sees it like that.
“So yes, as a coach, you turn, you say before, ‘Stay on your ground. Make sure you stay 11 vs. 11.’ We all say before the game; it’s important. Don’t get sent off. They get sent off; they react too quickly. That has a massive impact on the game. But again, how do you train staying calm in difficult situation? Only when you are in the difficult situation and know if you’re going to stay calm or not, as much as I scream, ‘Don’t tackle.’ You will.”
"You can't recreate that in training… How do you train staying calm?" 🤔
Thierry, @Carra23 and @MicahRichards react to João Cancelo's costly error for Barcelona 😬 pic.twitter.com/jOnXcURxBc
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) April 16, 2024
PSG are now off to the UEFA Champions League semifinal, where they’ll face a familiar foe in Borussia Dortmund, whom they’ve already encountered in the group stage this season.
