Hello! We need to talk about Barca’s brilliant youngsters. Coming your way today:
😮 Pedri and instant inspiration
😔 More misery for Messi
💰 £1bn in transfer fees, measured in minutes
🕵️ Manchester United’s mystery man
More CL drama? Pedri can assist…
The Champions League didn’t use up all of its excitement on Tuesday.
Wednesday’s quarter-final first leg between Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona picked up where Arsenal 2-2 Bayern Munich and Real Madrid 3-3 Manchester City left off.
Barcelona recovered from 2-1 down to beat PSG 3-2 — and it was the introduction of midfielder Pedri that sparked the comeback.
You know when some players come on, they like to make a couple of simple passes and get a few early touches just to ease themselves into the game? Not Pedri.
Taking one touch to set himself, with his second he sent a perfectly weighted 30-yard pass — it was truly a thing of beauty (see above) — into the path of Raphinha, taking four PSG players out of the action.
Raphinha scores again for Barcelona 🤩
How about that assist from Pedri 🥶#UCL
📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/tcfGK6g1CN
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) April 10, 2024
PICTURE-PERFECT PEDRI PASS! 📸
Raphinha bags his brace in fine fashion! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/nEQ36hDe0K
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) April 10, 2024
Raphinha notched his second goal with a sweet volley to level the scores — and props to him too because this was not a simple finish.
A night of super subs
The bench provided some game changers beyond Pedri. Defender Andreas Christensen scored with his first touch as he headed home Barcelona’s winner from a corner. Nicely done, Xavi.
And in the other quarter-final, Sebastien Haller arrived after an hour to pull one back for Borussia Dortmund in their 2-1 defeat to Atletico Madrid. It was his first Champions League goal for the club.
Less than two years ago, Haller was diagnosed with cancer but returned to football, won the Africa Cup of Nations with the Ivory Coast and is now still in with a shot of reaching the last four in Europe’s premier competition.
Cubarsi = composure
Pedri is only 21 — but he’s a seasoned veteran by Barcelona’s standards.
Forward Lamine Yamal is just 16 and became the youngest player to appear in the Champions League quarter-finals, playing a pivotal role in Barcelona’s opening goal.
Then there is centre-back Pau Cubarsi, who played with all the calmness and composure of someone who hadn’t celebrated his 17th birthday in January. What were you doing at that age?
Cubarsi registered a 93 per cent passing accuracy in the first half. It’s no wonder Xavi said last month: “When Pau Cubarsi has the ball at his feet, my heart rate doesn’t go up.”
Wasn’t he up against Mbappe?
Yes, Cubarsi helped ensure one of the world’s best players was kept on the periphery.
Mbappe managed just one successful dribble and three shots, two of which were blocked — the first time since September 2021 he has played a home match in the Champions League and failed to register a shot on target.
The 25-year-old is set to leave PSG this summer, and should they fail to turn the tie around, next week’s second leg would be his final Champions League game for the club. He is PSG’s all-time top scorer in the competition but has no winner’s medal to show for his efforts.
As Peter Rutzler writes, “Another quiet night like this one, in the setting of Barcelona’s temporary homestead, would not be the way to bow out.”
But with 18 goals scored in the first legs of the quarter-finals — the joint most in a season along with 2010-11 — would you really bet against the Frenchman having a say next week?
Messi in more Monterrey misery
“Someone else has it worse” is a bit of basic, flawed advice bandied around in times of hardship.
That someone isn’t normally Lionel Messi.
But if you thought your night was rough, Kylian, at least you weren’t completely eliminated from a competition, booed relentlessly, and heckled with the name of your rival repeatedly chanted at you.
Inter Miami were beaten 3-1 by Liga MX side Monterrey in the quarter-finals of the CONCACAF Champions Cup as they exited the competition with a 5-2 aggregate loss.
The night started badly, with Drake Callender gifting a goal to Brandon Vazquez (above) — the second straight blunder from an MLS goalkeeper in Mexico when trying to play it out of the back following Columbus Crew’s Patrick Schulte on Tuesday. Truly, what is going on?
¡Brandon Vazquez anota el 1-0 para Rayados! 🤠 pic.twitter.com/uvDgLk8TlN
— Concacaf Champions Cup (@TheChampions) April 11, 2024
Messi didn’t receive a hero’s welcome in Mexico, either, following reports of the tunnel bust-up in the first leg.
As Pablo Maurer and Felipe Cardenas explained: “By the final whistle, the crowd had honed in on a pair of chants: ‘Messi se la come’ (Messi can eat it) was the first. The second was a little less creative: they just started chanting Cristiano Ronaldo’s name over and over again.”
How much playing time does £1bn buy you?
Where does Manchester United 2-2 Liverpool leave the title race?
Chelsea have spent £1billion ($1.27bn) on players during owners Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital’s first three transfer windows. You don’t need a background in finance to know that’s a lot. It’s no instant return on investment either, with the London club on course to deliver two mid-table finishes and no European football.
A breakdown of the 29 recruits’ game time is also pretty startling.
As the pie chart shows, £303.9million (31 per cent of the total Boehly-Clearlake transfer spend in the first three transfer windows) has played less than 25 per cent of the available Chelsea minutes since signing. Nearly one third of £1billion Boehly-Clearlake transfer spend have barely seen any time on the pitch.
There are mitigating circumstances; this bracket includes young, developmental signings who have spent much of their Chelsea careers on loan, plus Wesley Fofana, Christopher Nkunku and Romeo Lavia, who have seen their minutes restricted by long-term injury.
But it begs the question: is this erratic, irresponsible spending that has delivered minimal success, or a future-focused transfer strategy?
Around The Athletic FC
🇩🇪 Bayer Leverkusen are 41 games unbeaten in all competitions. Can they break Benfica’s European record of 48?
🕵️♂️ Tyrell Malacia is Manchester United’s mystery man. A tale of injuries, social media conspiracies and an open-ended return date.
Catch A Match (Times ET / UK)
Europa League quarter-finals (all 3pm / 8pm)
🇩🇪 Bayer Leverkusen v West Ham United 🏴
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🇵🇹 Benfica v Marseille 🇫🇷
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🏴 Liverpool v Atalanta 🇮🇹
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🇮🇹 AC Milan v Roma 🇮🇹
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