Barcelona back in Paris for Champions League quarters
Paris, April 14 (IANS): While most of Spain has its attention fixed on Tuesday night's Madrid derby in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, FC Barcelona are preparing for their own European adventure in Paris when they face Paris Saint Germain (PSG) on Wednesday.
For Barcelona, it is a return to the scene of the crime and nobody at the club has forgotten that they were beaten 2-3 by the French side in the group stage of the competition, reports Xinhua. However, this time Barcelona will be pleased that the volatile PSG striker Zlatan Ibrahimovich is unable to play against his former club due to suspension.
Barcelona have problems of their own to sort out, not least the apparently poor relationship between coach Luis Enrique and Neymar. The Brazilian striker had reacted badly to being substituted in the second half of the 2-2 draw against Sevilla in a La Liga match on Saturday night.
Neymar made an obvious gesture of frustration at his change. It will be interesting to see if coach Luis Enrique starts with him or instead prefers to start with either Pedro Rodriguez or Andres Iniesta as part of his attacking trio alongside Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi.
Enrique has called up every available player to travel to Paris with only the injured Thomas Vermaelen and the suspended Dani Alves remaining in Barcelona, where they will prepare for Saturday's league game at home against Valencia.
Barcelona have three options to cover for Alves at rightback with Martin Montoya the favourite to get the nod, although the versatile Adriano offers more of an attacking outlet than Montoya.
Douglas has also travelled, but given that he has hardly played this season, it is unlikely that he would be thrown into the side for such an important match.
Barcelona have a fine defensive record this season and they will be looking to keep that going on Wednesday, but almost as important as keeping a clean sheet is scoring a vital away goal for next Tuesday's return leg.