Barcelona-PSG: Jules Koundé alludes to balance shift | OneFootball

Barcelona have long since been considered a giant of European football. Despite the club’s recent troubles, both on and off the field, they are still considered one of the toughest opponents on the continent. The same cannot be said of Paris Saint-Germain but Jules Koundé’s (25) latest comments suggest those perceptions are beginning to change.

Just as they did in 2021, PSG progressed in the Champions League at the expense of Barcelona. Having been the victim of the famous remontada back in 2017, Les Parisiens have now knocked Barcelona out of the competition twice in the space of four seasons. The latest victory was secured on Tuesday with a 4-1 victory in Catalunya, which allowed PSG to overturn the one-goal deficit from the first leg and complete their own remontée.

Barcelona’s task was made difficult by Ronald Araujo’s red card in the first half and post-match, Koundé recognised the difficulty in competing against PSG. “Being 10 against 11 for an hour is difficult against such a team […] we had a good match in the first leg. We showed that we could rival [PSG]. We win and lose as a team,” said the France international in the wake of Barcelona’s elimination from the Champions League.

For a long time, teams were happy to rival Barcelona, but now Barcelona are happy to rival PSG. As noted by David Ginola on Canal Plus’ coverage, Koundé’s comments allude to a changing of the guard.

GFFN | Luke Entwistle