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This week's column on all things French football...

PSG deserved their comeback victory against Barcelona

PSG’s comeback against Barcelona last week was superb, and in many ways arguably more impressive than La Remontada of 2017, because PSG just blew Barca away, rather than through any major refereeing controversy. I’m sure there will be a debate about the referee’s role in it, especially after Xavi’s comments after the game, but it doesn’t feel at all the same level as the Remontada of seven years ago, so I don’t buy that argument about Barca’s elimination from Xavi and his staff.

I think, overall, Luis Enrique got his game plan and his starting XI absolutely correct. I think the fact that he didn’t make a substitution until the final ten minutes shows that he absolutely nailed his team selection, which he didn’t do in the first leg, and I think that was a huge difference.

Achraf Hakimi being available again made a big difference, as it meant Enrique didn’t need to re-jig his defence again like he did in the first game - he took his team selection back to basics and it made a lot more sense than some of the decisions he made in the first leg, and consequently PSG put in a very good performance.