BARCELONA – Barcelona and PSG remember Johan Cruyff and Sergi Roberto. To Ronaldo, Neymar, Verratti, Marquinhos, Rafinha and even Icardi. And Messi, of course. They place Nasser Al-Khelaïfi and Josep Maria Bartomeu on the map. To Eric Abidal and even Laurent Blanc. The relationship between the two clubs is the story of an enmity that has made them as inseparable as they are irreconcilable. And that they will see their faces again this Tuesday at the Camp Nou in a new chapter that will not be the last.
They cross paths when Leo Messi is a prominent protagonist, in the last months of his contract with Barça and being put on stage by PSG as a monumental signing, free, and which has caused many complaints from the environment of Camp Nou.
The Argentine crack is nothing more than the last name of a long relationship between the two clubs that were seen on a playing field for the first time in 1995, behind in 2017 and that has led them to a deep enmity that goes reach the zenith with the departure of Neymar to Paris and that has been reproduced badly with all the speculation and statements of recent weeks in the case of a Messi who has been silent, unwilling to feed an obvious controversy.
It was PSG, coached by Luis Fernandez, the team that fired Johan Cruyff from the Champions League. Runner-up the previous season, Barça crossed paths with the French team in the quarter-finals of the 1994-95 season. Disputed the first leg at the Camp Nou (1-1 with goals from Korneyev and Weah), the 2-1 at the Parc des Princes, PSG overcoming the initial goal of Bakero through Raí and Guérin, caused the Barça’s elimination in what was Cruyff’s last game as a coach in the top continental competition.
The final of the defunct European Cup Winners’ Cup was his second face-off. Disputed on 14 May 1997, the victory fell to the Barcelona side thanks to a penalty converted by Ronaldo, in his only season as a Barça player under the direction of Bobby Robson.
MEETING AND ENEMY
From here they did not see again on a pitch until the 2012-13 season, in the quarterfinals of the Champions League that favored Barça (2-2 in Paris and 1-1 in Barcelona) in what was the first of several clashes on the pitch,
always favorable to the Spanish team and that led to a future enmity, a deafening war, which has remained on the scene for all these years.
It happened with Marquinhos and Thiago Silva, reference defenses of the PSG who wanted to sign Barça without luck and reached the maximum with Verratti, who came to proclaim his desire to leave Paris to play for Barça against the will of its president. .. Who resolved by renewing and proclaiming that he would not forget the insult in which he understood an assault on his club. And that came back over time.
It was in August 2017, when PSG took Neymar to Paris, paying his termination clause, 222 million euros, and returned all the threats of Barça on their players with a blow master of which, to this day, the Barça club has not recovered.
Before that, on the pitch, they had seen each other again on three occasions, in a group stage and two direct qualifiers in the 2014-15 and 2016-17 seasons, both overcome by the Barça club … And with May 8, 2017 as an unforgettable date, with the historic comeback (6-1) that sentenced Sergi Roberto in what was precisely the last great night of Neymar as Barça.
Since then and until today, there have been many times when the Brazilian has been linked again with Barça, who tried in every way to recover him with improbable negotiations and even the travels of Òscar Grau. and Eric Abidal in Paris without good results. Today, it seems that the return is definitely ruled out. And, initially, he will not return to the Camp Nou or as a PSG player due to his injury.
Barça and PSG will meet again this Tuesday at the Camp Nou without Ney, but probably with Rafinha, from the azuñgrana squad, who closed his transfer stages by signing for the French club and, also, with Mauro Icardi, a player from Barça and today forward of the French team. And with Barça’s Messi. Who knows if for the last time faced a team that sighs for his signing from the next campaign.
No audience but with passion in a new chapter in this long history of sporting battles and overt enmities.