Ahead of Wednesday’s trip to PSG in the UEFA Champions League, Barcelona’s head coach Xavi has admitted that the French side Paris Saint-Germain are the favorite and not his team. Barcelona will be in Paris for the first leg of the encounter, which is one of the four quarterfinal fixtures in the UEFA Champions League this season, and one of the two will be played on Wednesday.

While Barcelona are only mathematically in the league title race as they are currently second place behind Real Madrid with around 7 points, their only chance of winning a title this season falls in the UEFA Champions League, where they must overcome the French obstacle if they want to make it to the last four.

For Xavi, this is a game where Barcelona go in as underdogs especially after failing to get to the quarterfinals in the last four years.

“It is a key moment. The word after four years without reaching the quarterfinals is excitement. To say that we are not favorites is not a strategy; I really think so. I think PSG are favourites, they have taken Dembélé away from us, they have spent a lot of money, more than us. They are a team made to win the Champions League. I’ll say it again, PSG are favourites. They have Dembélé,” Xavi said.

Barcelona went into the fixture on the back of a four-match winning streak, which saw them defeat Las Palmas in the last match in La Liga over the weekend. Their previous two games have seen their opponents finish the game with ten men each, with their 3-0 win over Atletico Madrid and 1-0 last weekend, both coming against ten men. Barcelona knocked out Napoli in the previous round of the competition, while PSG drew 1-1 with Clermont Foot at the weekend and got past Real Sociedad in Round 16.

Daniel Ademiju Idowu