FC Barcelona is all too wary of the threat that Zlatan Ibrahimovic poses to its defense. And while last September, the tall Swede sat in a private box in the stands to see PSG beat Barça by 3 goals to 2, this time around he’ll be on the pitch.
There’s no mistaking the ability of Ibrahimovic whether it’s in the air or on the floor – he is a handful and Barça have their work cut out tonight in trying to stop him breaching their defense. And while a few of Barcelona’s players can hold their own against the great man in the height stakes, the rest of the squad will have to use other means to stop the Swede from grabbing a goal.
Barça manager Luis Enrique was talking at a pre match press conference and surprised nobody when he spoke about the threat of Ibrahimovic. He stressed that Barcelona will need to perform better in their defensive department if they are to stop the towering Swede honing in on their goal.
“Our aim is clear – we want to win and PSG want the same,” Enrique said. “They are one of the contenders to win the competition and it’ll be a demanding match, defensively speaking, for us,” he said.
“PSG beat us without Ibrahimovic. Their squad is strong enough not to depend on any particular player, but with Zlatan in their squad they are even more dangerous.”
Continuing to speak about the threat of Ibra, Luis Enrique continued:
“Ibrahimovic is a top player.” “If he’s at his best he’s difficult to stop. If we can defend as a block, fewer balls will reach Ibra.”
“He can decide a match at any given moment, which is why he’s a top player.
Hopefully, Barcelona have done their homework for tonight’s game against PSG and will limit any damage Ibrahimovic can inflict on the Catalans.