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The decisive finish neatly summarized the style of this encounter: full-throttle commitment right to its end. An attack that began far back in Paris Saint-Germain's defensive territory, involving Lee Kang-in recovering backwards, spinning, evading pressure, and driving ahead at the opponents, culminated in the penalty area with Gonçalo Ramos slipping a shot beneath goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny. A mere 6 seconds were on the clock, it was the 26th shot of an exhausting yet captivating match, and now the fixture was finally finished, Barcelona defeated.

Relentless Struggle from the Start

During the first hour the clubs attacked one another; for those final half an hour, as Barcelona faltered, the Parisians gained the initiative, turning the pressure gradually, and ultimately perhaps merit had been done. Most importantly, however, a impression at full time was that this had been a lot of excitement and that both are top-class sides, despite the fact that the PSG manager's team remain possibly slightly superior, despite prominent absentees, including Ballon d’Or recipient, Dembélé, among them. Across the field there were players who caught everyone's eye, both for the work rate as their quality, the tempo at which all action happened, and the aggression in every action.

The teams had been in each other’s faces from the beginning. Ruiz kicked a pass straight out of play from the opening pass, his colleagues sprinting after it as a unit, pressing their opponents from the initial restart. Ferran Torres, cheered by the home support, soon tackled on PSG's goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier after only 35 seconds.

Yamal Impresses with Breathtaking Skill

If the early tackle was a statement of ambition, then this was something else. Audacious is one word for it. Hakimi had declared that this time the winger would be up against one of the global elite full-back and that, in any case, PSG would attempt not to leave Nuno Mendes alone. Yet the very first occasion he got the ball the youngster took on three opponents instead, spinning away after 85 moments, including a spin, to set up an opportunity for Torres.

The next time Lamine Yamal collected the ball, a drop of his body almost freed Yamal away from the defender once more but his full back to regain position quickly. Next an outrageous pass with the exterior of the boot, bending past two markers and into a perfect area like a curling stone sliding home across a sheet, reached Torres. The striker ran round Chevalier and directed his shot towards what appeared was now an empty net but Zabarnyi to fly across and stop it.

Barca Takes First Advantage

When Barcelona took an lead on 18 minutes it had started with Lamine Yamal too, but the decisive contribution came from the opposite flank and an increasingly regular source. Lamine Yamal was quickest to a loose ball; he found the midfielder and the midfielder turned it towards Marcus Rashford, running on his left, whose one-touch ball was perfectly timed for the scorer to guide into the net. In the sixth successive match the Englishman had a direct goal contribution, Montjuic roaring. Shortly afterward, Rashford had a shot blocked. The attacker sped to nearly create Olmo right before half-time as well.

By then the visitors were back on terms. A man for whom “defender” is an grossly inadequate label, Nuno Mendes came flying forward the back, running by people as an elite athlete at an amateur local event. Frenkie de Jong fouled him out on that occasion, but a pair of studs on his achilles didn’t stop the defender doing it again moments later, bursting past Jules Koundé, and this time it ended with the ball in Barcelona's goal.

Moving smoothly clear from Pau Cubarsi to collect the pass, Senny Mayulu finished coolly. Their champions could have regained the lead prior to the interval as well, but when Bradley Barcola shook off Martín in their box he blazed over.

End-to-End Action Persists

Still they pressed on. Fast feet allowed Barcola to fire a shot that the keeper parried at the near post, Cubarsi blocked the wing-back and a superb challenge from Eric García rescued Barcelona momentarily and freed the attackers the next, his pass up the line releasing the forward racing down the other end to find Lamine Yamal, who was only halted by a two-man challenge right on the border of their area. Almost immediately, a further dash and another beautifully delivered cross-field pass from Rashford found Lamine Yamal again to set up Olmo; Hakimi produced one fantastic block virtually on the goal-line.

Yet the Paris side were starting to tilt this momentum. Lee drifted infeld and struck the post. The full-back had one header saved and then, with the clock running out, and the midfielder chased down, the work rate commendable to the very last, Lee managed to escape to start a final move. There was the playmaker, as always, making sense of it everything. Also present was Hakimi operating on their right somehow yet {running