Barcelona host Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday hoping their young stars can help them overcome the shadows of the past and return the five-time champions to the elite competition of the Champions League. The Catalans’ dramatic 3-2 win in the first leg of the quarter-finals in Paris was arguably their best away result in nearly a decade and ignited Catalan greatness dream. “I understand the euphoria – it’s better to live in euphoria than in pessimism,” Barca coach Xavi Hernandez said on Saturday.

Xavi’s side, which triumphed at the Parc des Princes, feature two of the youngest players to ever play in the Champions League quarter-finals, 16-year-old Lamine Yamal and 17-year-old Paulo Kubas.

This new blood brings new energy to a team that has not only struggled this season, but has suffered from constant mental defeats since its last victory in Europe in 2015. of blow.

Led by current PSG boss Luis Enrique, the Catalans were lifted in Berlin by a miraculous attacking prowess from Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez. won the trophy.

The years since have been marked by a series of dramatic collapses on the continent’s biggest stages and, even worse, ignominious defeats in the early rounds.

Yamal and Kubas did not suffer the psychological damage of these defeats and Xavi praised their mentality.

Xavi said in March: “(Hamal) is very calm, very mature and despite his youth he is able to take everything that happens to him very well, so he is cautious.”

Xavi offered similar praise after Kubalsi’s outstanding performance helped Barcelona advance from the last 16 against Napoli.

“He’s got a really good brain,” the coach said.

“Put the ghost aside”

In the 2018 quarter-finals, Barcelona lost 3-0 to Roma at the Stadio Olimpico in the Italian capital, throwing away a 4-1 first-round lead. Cubas’ composure was exactly what Barcelona lacked.

The following season they suffered a disastrous defeat at a delighted Anfield, unable to hold on to the 3-0 advantage they had gained at Camp Nou.

The 4-0 defeat in the second leg was a huge shock to the club and led to the eventual sacking of coach Ernesto Valverde a few months later.

For most players leaving Barcelona’s golden era behind, the final nail in the coffin was the 8-2 defeat by Bayern Munich in the 2020 quarter-finals.

Many of Barcelona’s established stars seemed scarred by their failure in Europe, with Messi, Suarez, Jordi Alba, Gerard Pique and others all leaving soon after.

Goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen is one of two survivors from the victorious 2015 team, the other being Sergi Roberto, who came from behind in Barca’s 6-1 comeback in 2017 The decisive sixth goal of the game against Saint-Germain.

“We have to put the ghosts aside,” the goalkeeper said after Barca won a hard-fought group stage win in Porto in October.

“There’s no need to put pressure on ourselves… We have a different team (now).”

Bayern’s defeat certainly fuels the belief that Barcelona have fallen from football’s upper echelon.

From then to now, Barcelona has been eliminated twice in the group stage, fell into the Europa League, and fell to its lowest point in the 21st century.

President Joan Laporta has pledged to restore Barcelona to the top of European football, with the club now close to the semi-finals after four years without reaching the quarter-finals.

Critics criticized him for failing to deliver on his promise to keep Messi at the club, but now Yamal is thriving in his role on the right side of attack.

Laporta has also been accused of squandering funds to buy Robert Lewandowski, Jules Kounde, Rafinha and others in the summer of 2022 at the expense of future TV revenue, but they failed to win against Paris Saint-Germain. Germain performed well in both games, with the latter scoring twice.

By winning La Liga last season, Barcelona showed that they are improving and now all that remains is to finish what they started in Paris to make clear progress in Europe as well.

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