PSG braces for tough Barcelona clash in Champions League

Two years ago, Barcelona humbled PSG 3-1 in Paris in the first leg of their quarter-final tie. (Source: AP)

Paris St Germain will be well-equipped to renew battle with Barcelona in their Champions League round of 16 first leg at the Parc des Princes on Tuesday after key midfielder Marco Verratti made a well-timed return to the team.

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Two years ago, Barcelona humbled PSG 3-1 in Paris in the first leg of their quarter-final tie when the French champions were without talismanic forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Verratti, and saw captain Thiago Silva limp off the pitch after 21 minutes.

Barca won the return 2-0 to eliminate PSG for the second time in three years at the same stage of Europe’s premium club competition.

Verratti made his comeback from a calf injury in Friday’s 3-0 rout of Girondins de Bordeaux, showing his best in a 60-minute appearance with a splendid assist for Edinson Cavani.

“He is a very intelligent player. I watch how he plays with and without the ball. He is really very, very strong. Playing with him is an absolute pleasure,” Julian Draxler, himself in impressive form since his January switch from Wolfsburg, said of the Italy international.

Uruguay striker Cavani is in the form of his life, having scored a double against Bordeaux to take his league season tally to 25 goals.

Only the suspended Thiago Motta and long-tem injured Javier Pastore will be missing on Tuesday.

Barca are also in good form after demolishing Alaves 6-0 in La Liga on Saturday but suffered the loss for five months of fullback Aleix Vidal, who sustained a nasty ankle injury.

Gerard Pique, who was rested against Alaves, is back in the squad, along with another defender, Rafinha, who has recovered from a broken nose.

The firepower of Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi and Neymar ensure Luis Enrique’s side enter the tie as obvious favourites but PSG winger Angel Di Maria believes the game will be a good opportunity for his team to make amends for recent failures against the Spanish club.

“Obviously it’s talked about in the dressing room, but each year it’s different,” he said, referring to PSG’s elimination by Barca in 2013 and 2015.

“It’s a new era, with new players and it’s a new opportunity for everyone.”

The return leg will be played at the Camp Nou on March 8.

How to stop Lionel Messi? Tie him up, says PSG’s Lucas

Lionel Messi is playing some of the best football of his career. (Source: AP)

Paris Saint-Germain winger Lucas jokes that the only way to stop Lionel Messi is “to tie him up.”

The Brazilian can afford to laugh for he doesn’t __have to defend against Messi when Barcelona arrives for the first leg of their Champions League match.

With a quarterfinal place at stake, PSG __have only themselves to blame for landing Barcelona after finishing second in their group behind Arsenal.

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PSG’s quest for European success has developed a frustrating pattern, ending at the quarterfinals in the past four seasons.

That led to coach Laurent Blanc being fired and replaced by Unai Emery.

Yet PSG still face the prospect of doing worse than last year unless they find a way past Barcelona. It feels like now or never for a PSG side enjoying massive investment from Qatari backers, QSI, since their takeover in June 2011.

“That’s what is missing for us,” Lucas told The Associated Press in a recent interview. “We need to win something in Europe.”

Last season’s elimination against Manchester City cost Blanc his job despite back-to-back domestic trebles and a hefty new contract signed just months before. It showed just how ruthless PSG’s owners are in their desire to join Europe’s elite.

“(Losing to City) was difficult to take because we knew we could win,” Lucas told the AP. “I don’t know what was missing.”

Losing to Barcelona in the 2013 and 2015 quarterfinals was less unexpected. Knocking out the Catalan giant this time would send out a strong message.

Easier said than done against Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez — a dream attack mixing skill, subtlety, cunning, speed, power, aggression and devastating finishing.

“No team is unbeatable, but of course for me they are the favorites,” Lucas said. “They are the best team in the world, you have to respect them.”

Messi is playing some of the best football of his career, though that seems to happen most seasons.

If it is possible for a five-time Golden Ball winner to get even better, then Messi is finding a way at the age of 29.

The Argentine magician is conjuring up brilliant free kicks, either curling them into top corner with his unique casual brilliance or with power and precision.

Another weapon in an already huge armory that has produced nearly 500 goals for club and 57 for country.

Messi is the Champions League’s top scorer this season with 10 goals in five games, having missed one.

Asked how to stop Messi, Lucas laughs. “Legally?” he asks. “For me it’s impossible to stop him. You have to tie him up.”

More seriously, Lucas says, there is no point trying to man-mark a player whose mind works even faster than his feet, and who is as elusive as a ghost.

“The tactic is preventing the ball getting to him,” Lucas said. “You must be very, very organised.”

Then there’s Suarez, who has scored in each of his last six games, and Neymar.

The 24-year-old Lucas, who has 34 caps for Brazil, fills with pride when speaking about his countryman Neymar.

“It’s great for our country to see him doing well there, and me doing well here,” said Lucas, who is enjoying his fifth – and best – season with PSG. “He’s a great example. I’m happy for him, for everything he’s doing there and in the national team as well.”

Neymar, who already has 50 goals for Brazil, is touted as Messi’s eventual successor by many observers.

“I don’t think he can be like Messi, because every player has their own style and their own history,” Lucas said. “But I think that, after Messi, he can become a great, great player as well and write a great history for Barcelona.”

Asked if Barcelona has weaknesses, Lucas agrees but doesn’t say what they are.

The solution for PSG against Barcelona could be attack as a best form of defense.

Neither of Barcelona’s goalkeepers — Dutchman Jasper Cillessen and German Marc-Andre ter Stegen — is commanding in the air. Some defenders are vulnerable, which puts too much pressure on reliable stalwarts Gerard Pique and Javier Mascherano.

France center half Samuel Umtiti and international teammate Lucas Digne (left back) are in their first seasons with Barcelona. Veteran Jeremy Mathieu has experience — five seasons with Valencia and this is his third with Barca — but he is easy to turn and error-prone.

Barcelona struggle against high balls on corners and free kicks, which just happens to be PSG’s strong point.

PSG have outstanding headers of the ball in center forward Edinson Cavani, who has 33 goals this season, and captain Thiago Silva.

“That can be a weapon,” Lucas said. “We have to make the most of that.”

Gonzalo Higuain fires Juventus past Cagliari

Gonzalo Higuain scored in both halves to lead Juventus to victory. (Source: AP)

Gonzalo Higuain scored either side of halftime as Serie A leaders Juventus won 2-0 at Cagliari on Sunday to preserve their seven-point lead over second-placed AS Roma, who downed Crotone 2-0 away after goals from Radja Nainggolan and Edin Dzeko.

Higuain, signed for 90 million euros ($95.61 million) last year, proved his worth against Cagliari as he settled a tight contest to take his goal tally to 18 for the season.

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Serie A’s joint-top scorer fired Juventus ahead in the 37th minute when he was picked out by a sumptuous Claudio Marchisio pass and slotted past the advancing Rafael. Higuain added a second two minutes after the break by slamming home to round off a searing counter attack.

“Higuain is an extraordinary finisher but we always knew that,” Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri told Sky Italia.

“The really impressive thing is how hard he works for the team.”

Cagliari, disciplined and organised during the first half, wilted after Juventus took a stranglehold on the match and had Nicolo Barella sent off following a second yellow card in the 67th minute.

“I want a spectacular Juventus,” Allegri added. “When you play football you need to be spectacular.

“Cagliari went down to 10 men and we should __have run riot but instead we were too hasty and didn’t make the correct decisions. We need to improve.”

The victory extended Juve’s winning streak to five matches. They __have 60 points, seven ahead of Roma, who had earlier made light of a first-half missed penalty.

Nainggolan lashed past Alex Cordaz from a tight angle in the 40th minute after being picked out by Mohamed Salah as the visitors edged a first half in which they had only hinted at their wealth of attacking quality.

Salah then squared for Dzeko, who had sent a hesitant first-half penalty wide, for a simple tap-in in the 77th minute as Roma overtook Napoli, 2-0 victors against Genoa on Friday, into second.

“Our aim today was not to encourage our opponents because when the situation is uncertain and the supporters get involved, Crotone have a team that can play well,” Roma manager Luciano Spalletti told reporters.

“I was a bit concerned by the missed penalty, but then we took the game in hand and controlled things.”

Inter Milan moved up to 45 points in fourth after seeing off Empoli 2-0 with goals from Eder and Antonio Candreva.

Surprise package Atalanta, also on 45, remain firmly in the hunt for European qualification after their 3-1 win at struggling Palermo.

Bottom club Pescara trailed 5-0 after 61 minutes at Torino but scored three times in 10 minutes after the break. They were unable to salvage a draw though and remain hopelessly adrift with only nine points from 24 matches.

Toni Nadal to quit as Rafael Nadal’s coach after this season

Toni has been with Rafael since before he broke into the big-time by winning the French Open in 2005. (Source: Reuters)

Rafael Nadal’s uncle, Toni Nadal, will step down as his coach after this year’s ATP Tour, as he feels he has been sidelined by other figures in the player’s entourage, he told an Italian tennis magazine.

The 55-year-old has been with the 14-times grand slam champion since before the Spaniard broke into the big-time by winning the French Open as a teenager in 2005.

Two weeks after watching his nephew lose in five sets to Roger Federer in the Australian Open final, Toni Nadal told Il Tennis Italiano website that after this season he wants to concentrate on training emerging players.

“From next year I will no longer follow Rafael on the circuit but will dedicate myself exclusively to our academy,” he said, referring to the Rafa Nadal Academy which opened last October in Mallorca.

“The relationship with my nephew has always been excellent, in all these years we __have never had periods of crisis,” he said, but added that he has felt increasingly sidelined by Nadal’s manager Carlos Costa and the player’s father.

“The truth is that every year I am making fewer decisions, to the point that I won’t be deciding anything any more!”

Former World number one and fellow Mallorcan Carlos Moya joined Nadal’s coaching staff this season, hoping to help revive the player’s career after two injury-plagued years.

Nadal, without a grand slam title since winning the French Open for a ninth time in 2014, withdrew from last year’s tournament and missed Wimbledon because of a wrist injury.

Premier League Recap: Liverpool finally get a win while Chelsea suffer rare blip

Sadio Mane scored a brace in Liverpool’s win over Spurs. (Source: Reuters)

The Premier League title race may be getting more predictable by the week but the race to get to the top four or get away from the bottom three is anything but.

Liverpool marked a return to goal-scoring and winning form when they beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 at Anfield. Sadio Mane’s return from the African Cup of Nations was a clear boost to the home side. The Senegalese striker’s devastating pace helped him race ahead of the Spurs defence and score the first goal in the 16th minute. Just two minutes later, he had the second with clinical precision after a superb counter. He had quite a few chances to net a hat-trick had it not been for some phenomenal saves from Hugo Lloris. In the end, Liverpool managed to find their second win of 2017 and their first in the league. Spurs, who were closest to Chelsea among the top four teams, will in all likelihood be the second London club who will __have to contend with playing for the Champions League spots.

Elsewhere, Chelsea had a rare blemish when they were forced to a 1-1 draw by relegation-threatened Burnley. Antonio Conte’s men had started off in typical fashion with a brilliant attack that resulted in Pedro taking the Blues ahead in the 8th minute. But Burnley remained stubborn and slowly started troubling the Chelsea defence after 20 minutes. It was Robbie Brady who hit home with a free kick of some quality. The scoreline remained the way throughout the second half and the sides shared points at the end of the match. Chelsea still __have a 10-point lead at the top due to Spurs’ defeat that can reduce to eight points if Manchester City get the better of Bournemouth at Dean Court on Monday night.

On the other half of the table, Leicester City’s dream run from last season is slipping even more into a nightmarish sequel. They remain only one point above the relegation zone after fellow strugglers Swansea City took advantage of their defensive frailties to win 2-0.

Manchester United continued their scintillating form with a win over Watford. In what Jose Mourinho and the players themselves described as the best first half of football they have played all season, United kept pounding the Watford box with wave-after-wave of attacks. It was Juan Mata who gave the lead and Anthony Martial then put the game to bed.

Any positives that Sunderland may have felt when they won 4-0 over Crystal Palace last week would have been dashed when they conceded the same amount of goals to Southampton on Saturday. They remain rooted to the bottom of the table. Crystal Palace, sitting above them on goal difference suffered a 1-0 loss to Stoke City while Middlesbrough and Everton played out a 0-0 draw. West Bromwich Albion and West Ham United played out a draw 2-2 in a thriller of a mid-table clash.

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