Former Super Eagles captain Sunday Oliseh has praised Paris Saint-Germain for their “unprecedented” display against Barcelona in Wednesday night’s UEFA Champions League clash at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys, Footynaija.com reports.
Barcelona and PSG entered the contest with significant injury casualties in their respective squads. Most notably, Raphinha and Joan Garcia were sidelined for the Spaniards while PSG were without first choice front three Ousmane Dembele, Kvichka Kvaratskhelia and Desire Doue.
Despite these major absences, the game still delivered loads of excitement as Barcelona began brightly and nearly struck first when Lamine Yamal’s clever outside-of-the-boot pass sent Ferran Torres through on goal.
However, after rounding the keeper, Torres’ effort was cleared off the line by Illia Zabarnyi. The forward quickly made amends though, sweeping in Marcus Rashford’s low cross in the 19th minute to give Barca the lead.
PSG grew into the contest, with Wojciech Szczesny tipping away an Achraf Hakimi free-kick before Nuno Mendes surged down the left and picked out Senny Mayulu, who calmly lifted the ball over the goalkeeper for the equaliser.
The second half saw Barcelona lose some of their early momentum, though Dani Olmo came close to restoring the advantage when he pounced on a loose clearance, only for Hakimi to block his effort on the line.
Paris Saint-Germain substitute Lee Kang-in nearly provided a late spark for the reigning European champions as he weaved through Barcelona’s defence before unleashing a low shot that struck the far post.
The French side’s pressure eventually told at the death, as Hakimi broke on the counter and delivered a perfectly weighted cross for Goncalo Ramos, who finished emphatically in the 90th minute to snatch the win.
What Sunday Oliseh said about PSG’s performance
Taking to his X (formerly Twitter) account on Thursday morning, Oliseh revealed just how much he enjoyed Wednesday night’s performance from Paris Saint-Germain.
“With a depleted team lacking 3 world class starting players, PSG’s performance yesterday vs Barcelona was simply worthy of Gold,” the former Juventus midfielder posted.
“The management of the periods, gradual ascension, tactical deception and total ‘antidote’ body positioning to Barca’s tactics was just unprecedented. I had a blast!
“Bravo to Luis Enrique as PSG Coach!”
The win maintains PSG’s perfect start in Europe this season as they look to defend their Champions League crown. Attention will now return to Ligue 1 where a crunch clash versus Lille awaits this weekend.
