Barcelona coach Luis Enrique admitted his side need a “heroic performance” in the return to stand any chance of overturning a humiliating 4-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in their Uefa Champions League last 16 first leg on Tuesday.
“It is difficult to explain. They were superior to us from the start. It was a disastrous night for us in which we were clearly inferior. There’s not much more to say,” he told reporters after the resounding loss at the Parc des Princes.
Angel Di Maria scored twice for the home side while Julian Draxler and Edinson Cavani were also on target in a sensational Paris performance.
“PSG did what we expected them to do and produced their best version and we were at our poorest,” Luis Enrique added.
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Barcelona have not been eliminated before the quarter-finals of the Champions League since 2007 but the task facing them is enormous.
No team has ever gone through after losing 4-0 in the first leg of a European tie.
“It’s extremely difficult for us now but we go back to our stadium and really we need a heroic performance. But why not dream.”
The second leg will be at the Camp Nou on March 8.
* Agence France-Presse
Benfica top Dortmund
Benfica beat a misfiring Borussia Dortmund 1-0 in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie on Tuesday thanks to forward Kostas Mitroglou’s 13th goal in his last 13 games.
Greece international Mitroglou flicked the ball into the net to open the scoring in the 48th minute as Benfica, who have now not conceded a goal at home for 383 minutes, prevented the competition’s best attack from scoring.
Dortmund, who had netted a record 21 times in the group stage, missed a second-half penalty through Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who also squandered several other scoring chances on a night to forget for the Gabon striker.
The two sides will meet in Dortmund for the second leg on March 8.
* Reuters
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