Despite losing their star player at halftime, Barcelona have come out strong in the opening minutes of the second half and are keeping Paris Saint-Germain under control so far.
Paris Saint-Germain vs. Barcelona, 2013 UEFA Champions League: Barca looking comfortable for the most part
With Lionel Messi leaving the match at halftime with an apparent hamstring injuryona, Tito Vilanova brought in Cesc Fabregas to play centrally in the attack. The goal late in the first half certainly helped Barca's plan as well as they opened the second half looking to slow down the game and prevent Paris Saint-Germain's speed on the wings from causing the issues we saw at times in the first half.
PSG fans roared for a penalty in the 52nd minute after collision between Blaise Matuidi and Javier Mascherano. The crowd believed that Mascherano had interfered with Matuidi's run but the referee felt otherwise and waved away the protest.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic really should have done better with the ball in the 57th minute but appeared to get ahead of himself and compeltely mishandled a cross from Christophe Jallet. It was a rare poor first touch from the Swede and possibly a sign of frustration.
There’s no doubt that Barcelona learned from PSG’s close calls midway through the first half and have looked far more composed in the first 15 minutes of the second half, much as they did in the final 15 of the first half. Fabregas isn’t able to do the things in the middle that Messi can but he should be more than up to the task of helping Barca keeps things under control.
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