I honestly never had the opportunity to watch the full game of Barca's insane comeback vs PSG and thought I'd analyse it a little bit. With a 4-0 deficit to overturn Barca had to go hard and they did. Luis Enrique decided to field a Guardiola's last season esque lineup of a 3-3-4

With Ter Stegen in goal, they had Mascerano, Pique and Umtiti in a 3, the middle 3 in midfield consisted of Busquets who sat deep, Rakitic and Iniesta were allowed to go forward. The front 4 consisted of Messi as the 10, Rafinha at RW, Suarez in the middle and Neymar at LW

And this formation absolutely didn't have wingbacks. Neymar and Rafinha were both ordered to stay up the pitch, meaning the 3 CBs had to cover the entire field themselves with only Busquets in support from the middle. The amount of work the CBs had to was unthinkable

However PSG made it a lot easier for them. Lining up in a 4-3-3 of sorts even though projected as a 4-2-3-1 largely because Veratti who was supposedly the 10 also sat deep. Not just Veratti, in the first half the entire team sat deep forming a 4-6-0 of sorts with Cavani back too

This did make it difficult for Barca to break them down but it also allowed Barca to squeeze the pitch totally. With the entire PSG team in their own half their CBs could push way forward without fear of getting caught on the break. This I think was one of the major mistakes.

There was so much space for PSG to exploit, all they had to do was put 2 or 3 men forward. They had players like Lucas Moura, Draxler who could counter attack pretty well plus only 3 CBs back for Barca. Creating an overload was very easy but they chose not to do it entirely.

Barca got lucky with the first 2 goals because of simply horrendous defending. Neymar and Rafinha got a lot of the ball but Rafinha especially wasn't able to do that well mostly because he was a left footed player pinned into the right flank because of so many PSG players there

After the Messi penalty, Barca hopes went up but they were ultimately crushed when Cavani scored the away goal. However after 60 minutes, few changes happened. PSG started the half pretty well by pressing high in a 4-3-3 when Di Maria came on for Lucas. They also created a lot...

...of chances with Di Maria and Veratti central to everything. It was fairly easy to press Barca considering they literally had a maximum of 4 players during buildup but again another major error was made by Emery. He took Draxler off to bring a Aurier (a RB) which meant..

..that PSG returned to a 4-6-0 with 2 RBs on the field. Barca took Iniesta and Rafinha off to bring Turan and Roberto on. They offered much more mobility in the final third than the former 2. PSG tried to hold their line but there was just too much movement there for them to cope

With all this confusion, PSG conceded a silly foul and Neymar scored the freekick. Game on. And then we saw the most insane formation in play, a 3-2-5 with Busquets dropping as a CB and Pique going up as an auxiliary CF. The entire PSG team were pegged back. Even the Barca CBs...

in the back 3 surged up meaning the attacking overload was simply astronomical. This also meant that there was a lot of space in midfield (infront of the entire PSG 10) that allowed Messi to drop deep fairly easily and throw the ball into the box from which a penalty resulted

The last goal from Roberto also resulted from the same reason. So much space was afforded to Neymar in the middle, that also in the final minutes that he was so easily able to pick a pass in behind for Roberto. At this time, if PSG had even 2 players forward, there would be an...

..overload. Barca did have luck in their side no doubt, luck is required to pull a comeback like this but PSG with their pragmatism and in a sense fear of conceding was the reason for their downfall. Had they even put a 1-2 players forward to counter, they could surely score more

Few key performances here. One from Neymar who got most of the ball in left flank, tried to create a lot, tried to dribble a lot and later scored 2 crucial goals for Barca. Another major player was Umtiti, first season at Barca he covered the entire left flank largerly because...

...Neymar wasn't tracking back that much compared to Rafinha on the other side. Umtiti pressed high up and his incredible awareness resulted in him stopping attacks before they even started. It was also more difficult for him because he had the pacy Lucas Moura on his side.

Another great thing to point out is the Barca high press. Playing such a risky formation, they still managed to press PSG so well that they simply couldn't build up attacks from the back. Had PSG been able to play through the press even twice or thrice, they would surely score...

...more goals considering the amount of space Barca left inbehind. One major reason for that not happening was Rabiot fielded as a 6. The previous leg, he played as an 8 and arguably had one of the best matches in his career but as a 6, he gave so much of the ball away and he....

..was so poor during the buildup that they simply couldn't beat the press. It's interesting why Emery chose him and not Veratti in that role considering Veratti is a lot more press resistant than Rabiot. A lot of blame needs to go to Emery, his team selection and tactics.

Bigger appreciation is needed for Enrique and his fearlessness. He promised his team would put up a show and they did with some style. I can almost say that Barca deserved to score 6 or even more considering the way they were playing. A once in a lifetime game. Enjoyed thoroughly