Manchester City, Barcelona, injuries to key players: none of these can stop Paris Saint-Germain. In the space of six days the back-to-back champions have produced passages on a par with anything that took them to glory in 2025 and 2026. Not complete performances, it should be said, but maybe that is what makes them so scary.
They are a team that has so many different ways of winning. Once famed for their wastefulness, they spent half an hour at the Etihad last week showing they can make ball go goal from any angle at any moment. Tonight they took Barcelona's famed press and showed them what a throttling intensity really feels like.
Eight times they recovered possession in the attacking third. Barca defenders aren't used to 75% pass completion around their own penalty area but any time the ball went to the full backs they were surrounded by blue shirts. PSG could bully-ball Barcelona, Lucas Hernandez rag dolling Anthony Gordon off a set piece and thundering a header in to put his side 2-1 up.
One of the underrated qualities of this glamor outfit is the belligerence with which they hold their last line. When Fermin Lopez burst through it in the first half, Willian Pacho would not give up the chase. If he had to take a boot to the face to keep the ball out then so be it.
Everywhere you looked PSG were chasing lost causes. Don't let the scoreline trick you. What briefly looked like a your-ball, my-ball exhibition ascended into a brawl in a rooftop bar, a cocktail of muscularity and skill.
The haymakers these two swung at each other left their mark. Dani Olmo lasted just 27 minutes for Barcelona, and by the hour, PSG had lost both Ousmane Dembele and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. For the former it had the look of yet another hamstring injury but there will be serious concern about what appeared to be a knee injury for Kvaratskhelia after his clash with Xavi Espart.
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