Paris Saint Germain 4-2 FC Barcelona: result and report

Report

Paris Saint Germain beat FC Barcelona 4-2. Barcelona pulled level twice, but the home side kept hitting the target and found two late goals to settle it.

Désiré Doué opened the scoring on 38 minutes, set up by João Neves. Barcelona responded ten minutes after the break when Xavi Espart scored from Fermín López's assist. Lucas Hernández restored the lead on 72 minutes, again with Doué providing, but Lamine Yamal levelled on 79.

That was as close as Barcelona got, because Paris Saint Germain struck straight back. Vitinha scored two minutes after Yamal's equaliser. Fabián Ruiz then added a fourth on 86 minutes, set up by Achraf Hakimi.

Shots on target told the story

The win rested on how often Paris Saint Germain made Barcelona's goalkeeper work. They had 14 shots on target to Barcelona's five, despite taking one fewer shot overall. Barcelona had to make ten saves, while Paris Saint Germain also hit the woodwork twice.

The wider chance picture backs that up. The home side led on xG, 2.86 to 2.23, and created seven big chances to Barcelona's five. They still missed six of those, so the margin could easily have been wider.

Barcelona still had plenty going for them. They had 53% of the ball and the higher average pressure across the match. An xG figure above two is a serious attacking return away from home.

The problem was turning that into shots that tested the goalkeeper. Barcelona managed 17 shots, but only five were on target, so too much of their pressure came to nothing.