The secrets behind football's greatest comeback as Barcelona to beat PSG 6-1
It was the most astonishing comeback in Champions League history. It cost Unai Emery his job, sent striker Edinson Cavani into therapy, and meant referee Deniz Aytekin never got to officiate another knockout match. Tonight it could serve as the perfect inspiration for Paris Saint-Germain.
Now it’s the French who need a comeback, trailing 3-2 from the first leg. Back in March 2017 they had won the first game 4-0 only for Barcelona to do what no team had ever done before and overturn a four-goal deficit with a 6-1 second-leg victory.
Barca put their comeback down to three factors: the leadership of Luis Enrique, who was Barca coach then and is PSG’s now; the raucous Nou Camp crowd; and a top secret game plan hatched on the flight back to Spain after the first-leg defeat. According to PSG there was also a fourth crucial factor – the referee.
No one could sleep on the flight back to Barcelona from Paris. Luis Enrique was still quietly fuming at the performance, and Sergio Busquets’ post-match interview, that pointed the finger of blame at Barca’s tactics, had done nothing for the mood.
Robert Moreno, then a member of Luis Enrique’s technical staff and now Sochi manager in Russia, re-watched the game. By the time Barca touched back down in Spain he was clear about how they needed to approach the second leg.
They would abandon their 4-3-3 and play 3-4-3 with left-back Jordi Alba dropped, and Rafinha Alcantara upfront allowing Lionel Messi a freer role.
There was a three-week gap before the second leg and so the new system could be practiced in the four league games before. In wins over Leganes, Atletico Madrid, Sporting Gijon and Celta Vigo variations of what would be the formation and starting eleven against PSG were implanted.
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