Lamine Yamal has praised his return to the Barcelona squad for the Champions League match against Paris Saint-Germain at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys in midweek.
The 18-year-old talent posted on his Instagram account an excerpt from the movie The Devil's Advocate, in which the character John Milton played by Al Pacino talked about the pressure:
"There are people who, when forced, they concentrate, others who falter. Can you promote your talent at will? Can you complete on time? Can you sleep well at night? ".
Yamal then continued to share a photo of him celebrating Spain's victory at EURO 2024, with the caption: "What pressure? I'm back, and my mission is back."
The task that Yamal mentioned is Barcelona's journey to affirm that they are still the best team in Europe - something that his teammate Pedri also declared right before the match against PSG.
Confidence, of course, is not a bad thing. On the contrary, it is a necessary factor at the highest level of sports. However, the line between confidence and arrogance is always fragile. And the problem of exaggeration is that if it cannot be proven on the pitch, everything will get arrange. Barcelona's loss to PSG was a clear testament to that.
It is easy to understand why Barcelona are so confident ahead of their away trip to PSG. After defeating Real Madrid four times in the domestic treble season last year, the Catalan team has perfectly started its journey to defend the La Liga title.
They are unbeaten after 7 rounds, winning 19 out of 21 points to take the top spot. At the same time, they also opened the Champions League campaign with an impressive 2-1 victory over Newcastle right at St. Petersburg. James' Park.
All of these achievements are even more impressive when Barca have to play 4 consecutive matches without the service of Yamal. Therefore, even without Raphinha and goalkeeper Joan Garcia, Hansi Flick's team is still in an ideal state ahead of the big match against PSG.
In fact, Barcelona is even considered a team worth watching more than PSG, thanks to the risky attacking style of play that Hansi Flick pursues - football that always ensures goals.
Therefore, it is no surprise that they continue to score and set a club record with 45 consecutive shots. The visitors started the match enthusiastically, and Yamal really looked like a player on his journey to do his own "mission".
Just 3 minutes after the ball rolled, Yamal overcame 3 PSG players on the right wing, and contributed greatly to the opening goal of the match. That was Ferran Torres' goal after a delicate pass from Marcus Rashford in the 19th minute.
However, Barca could not maintain the initial overwhelming position or to be more precise, they were not allowed to do that. The closer to the end of the first half, the stronger PSG became and the more daring.
As Hansi Flick admitted after the match, despite the tireless efforts of Pedri and Frenkie de Jong, Vitinha and his teammates regained control of the game from about the 30th minute and never let it slip away.
The mid-term break gave Barcelona a valuable opportunity to re-establish the game. And things could have turned around if Dani Olmo had not missed a great opportunity in the second half.
However, by that time, Barca had begun to lose strength, as both Pedri and Frenkie de Jong were exhausted. Mostly because they have to spend too much time chasing the ball instead of implementing the familiar control style of play.
Basically, Barcelona has fallen under the relentless pressure of PSG. The Catalan team lost form and composure in the final minutes, when they were no longer alert enough to make accurate decisions.
Therefore, PSG's decisive goal was completely unexpected. Alejandro Balde lost his position in a decisive moment, creating conditions for Achraf Hakimi to accelerate on the right wing. The defender then passed the ball to Goncalo Ramos to seal the victory.
The humiliating defeat to PSG will be a valuable lesson for the Blaugrana in the rest of the season. And they need to get up immediately when they travel to Sevilla tonight.
