BARCELONA – Barcelona and PSG remember Johan Cruijff and Sergi Roberto. Ronaldo, Neymar, Verratti, Marquinhos, Rafinha and even Icardi. And Messi, of course. They put Nasser Al-Khelaïfi and Josep Maria Bartomeu on the map. Eric Abidal and even Laurent Blanc. The relationship between the two clubs is the story of an enmity that has made them both inseparable and irreconcilable. And that they will meet again on Tuesday at Camp Nou in a new chapter that will not be the last.
Their paths cross when Leo Messi is a prominent protagonist, in the final months of his contract with Barça and put on stage by PSG as a monumental signing, free of charge, and that has caused many complaints from the Camp Nou environment.
The Argentinian star is just the last name in a long relationship between the two clubs who first met on the field in 1995, most recently in 2017, and that has led them to a deep enmity that culminated with the departure of Neymar to Paris and which has been presented in a bad way with all the speculation and statements made in recent weeks about a Messi who has remained silent, without wanting to fuel any apparent controversy.
It was PSG, coached by Luis Fernández, the team that kicked Johan Cruijff out of the Champions League. Runner-up last season, Barça met the French team in the quarter-finals of the 1994-95 season. Contested the first leg at Camp Nou (1-1 with goals from Korneyev and Weah), the 2-1 in the Parc des Princes, PSG followed Bakero’s initial goal via Raí and Guérin, putting the Barça player’s elimination in what was Cruijff’s last game as a coach in the top continental competition.
The final of the defunct Recopa de Europa was his second face-to-face. Disputed on May 14, 1997, victory fell to the Barcelona side thanks to a penalty kick transformed by Ronaldo, in his only season as a Barça player led by Bobby Robson.
REUNION AND ENEMY
From there, they only met again on a field in the 2012-13 season, in the quarter-finals of the Champions League that favored Barça (2-2 in Paris and 1-1 in Barcelona) in what was the first of several matches. on the field,
always beneficial to the Spanish team and leading to a future enmity, a silent war, which has been on the podium for all these years.
It happened with Marquinhos and with Thiago Silva, PSG reference defenders who wanted to draw Barça with no luck and the maximum was reached with Verratti, who came to express his wish to leave Paris to play for Barça against the wishes of their president . resolved by renewing him and proclaiming that he would not forget the insult in what he interpreted as an attack on his club. And that came back over time.
It was in August 2017, when PSG brought Neymar to Paris, paid his termination clause, EUR 222 million, and responded to all Barça’s threats on their players with a masterly blow from which the azulgrana club has not recovered today.
Before that, they had seen each other on the field up to three times, in a group stage and two direct knockouts in the 2014-15 and 2016-17 seasons, both surpassed by the Barça club … And with the eighth in May 2017 as a unforgettable date, with the historic comeback (6-1) that condemned Sergi Roberto in what was exactly Neymar’s last great night as a Barça player.
Since then and to this day, there have been a few times that the Brazilian has been associated with Barça again, who tried in every way to get him back with incredible negotiations and even trips from Òscar Grau and Eric Abidal to Paris with no good results. . Today, it seems that the return has been ruled out for good. And from the start, he won’t return to Camp Nou or as a PSG player due to his injury.
Barça and PSG will meet again this Tuesday at Camp Nou without Ney, but probably with Rafinha, a youth player from Azuñgrana who ended his loan phase by signing for the French club and also with Mauro Icardi, Barça’s youth team on his back. day and today an attacker for the French team. And with Messi as Barça player. Who knows if he faced a team for the last time craving his signing next season.
Without an audience but with passion in a new chapter in that long history of sporting battles and manifest hostilities.