PREVIEW | PSG and Barcelona: A shared history fuels modern rivalry | OneFootball

Paris Saint-Germain travel to the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys to face FC Barcelona tonight in the UEFA Champions League league phase. It’ll be the 16th competitive meeting between two teams who have no love lost between them, following a decade of strained relations both on and off the field.

Unlike more recent matches, there has been perhaps a little less needle in the build-up to this encounter. Largely because more is usually at stake when PSG clash with Barcelona. Out of their 15 prior encounters, only two were set in the group stage of the Champions League; the rest took place in the knockout rounds, while one was in the final of the 1996/97 Cup Winners’ Cup, which PSG lost 1-0.

Tonight’s game, taking place in the second round of the league phase, means that there will be little jeopardy in the result; instead, what is at stake is that intangible thing which permeates football, and which often proves to be no less important: pride. As the Barcelona fullback and France international Jules Koundé explained ahead of the 2023/24 quarter-final, “There’s a lot of history and a lot which has gone on behind the scenes.”

La Remontada – the turning point in a burgeoning rivalry

A healthy dislike had been fostered between PSG and Barcelona from the moment that PSG became one of the richest teams in Europe following the 2011 takeover by QSI. They clashed in the market over Thiago Silva in 2012 and Marquinhos the very next year, with PSG winning the race for both centre-backs; while on the pitch, they were frequently drawn together in the Champions League, where Barcelona maintained the upper hand.

If there was one turning point that tipped hostility into a fully-fledged rivalry, it would be La Remontada. The night when PSG were humiliated 6-1 in front of the world, becoming the first team in Champions League history to be eliminated from the competition having held a 4-0 lead from the first leg. Led by the trio of Lionel Messi, Neymar Jr., and Luis Suárez, and managed by Luis Enrique, Barcelona were able to do the unthinkable.

It is fair to say that since that night in 2017, PSG have spent the past eight years making sure that their humiliation was a pyrrhic victory for the Catalans. The very next transfer window, PSG stunned Barcelona and world football by breaking the global transfer record (a record that remains unbroken to this day) to trigger Neymar’s €222m release clause. Barcelona were blindsided and furiously tried to have it blocked legally, but they were unable to do anything to stop Neymar from arriving in the French capital.

PSG and Barcelona – A battle fought in transfers

The departure of Neymar to PSG bruised Barcelona’s ego, but it was in 2021 that they had their hearts broken when they were unable to finance a contract extension for their crown jewel, Lionel Messi. The Argentine, who had joined them as a kid and made his way through La Masia on course to becoming the best player on the planet, would leave on a free transfer, where he was quickly snapped up by Les Parisiens.

PSG were not responsible for the circumstances of his departure, but there was a feeling that whenever Barcelona lost a key player, the French side were lurking in the wings. Something that once again came to a head when Messi and Neymar left the capital in 2023, and PSG cherry-picked Ousmane Dembélé from Barcelona, triggering his €50m release clause.

Dembélé, out of the three transfers, was the one that hurt Barcelona the least; there was annoyance that they had lost a player whom they had signed for a joint club record fee of €135m as a replacement for Neymar in 2017 for a paltry sum. However, he was ultimately seen as a player who had rarely lived up to his best due to his frequent and debilitating injuries. Funnily enough, he’s the player who has gone on to have the most success at PSG, winning the Champions League and the Ballon d’Or.

Shades of Barcelona in PSG’s success

You don’t have to pull up a microscope to see the shades of Barcelona underpinning PSG’s maiden Champions League trophy. From Dembélé on the pitch to Luis Enrique on the sidelines, this was a team that was cut from the same cloth as the Catalans. Particularly down to the way the team now plays as a fluid collective, whirling around the pitch in intricate rotating shapes.

As Luis Enrique said during his first season, when PSG came from behind to eliminate Xavi’s Barcelona from the 2023/24 Champions League quarter-finals, he embodied the Catalan style better than the man who was in charge of them, “Without a doubt, it’s me. It’s not an opinion, look at the statistics, in terms of possession, chances, pressing, trophies… Others might have a different opinion, but it’s definitely me.”

Koundé was right, there is a lot of history between PSG and Barcelona, and it has become increasingly shared from iconic players, big matches, and now even to the manager and playing style. And perhaps that’s why discontent with the other is never too far away, an uncanny valley effect, where the differences are magnified and exposed, until even the similarities are uncomfortable reminders of their differences.

GFFN | Nick Hartland