Champions League: Barca play down Messi injury fear

PSG remain hopeful of winning the quarter-final tie after levelling first-leg.

PARIS: Barcelona assistant coach Jordi Roura played down fears for the fitness of Lionel Messi, while Paris Saint-Germain coach Carlo Ancelotti insisted his team can still win their Champions League quarter-final tie.

PSG came from behind twice to draw 2-2 with the Catalans at the Parc des Princes in a pulsating first-leg, with Blaise Matuidi’s stoppage-time shot squirming through the grasp of visiting keeper Victor Valdes.

Xavi Hernandez had given Barcelona the lead from the penalty spot in the 89th minute after Zlatan Ibrahimovic had cancelled out Messi’s first-half opener. Conceding so late on was a blow for the Spanish league leaders, but the two away goals gave them the edge ahead of the return.

However, Barca’s night was marred by injuries, with centre-half Javier Mascherano being carried off in the second half and Messi not reappearing after the break because of a hamstring injury.

“Messi has a small hamstring problem,” said Roura, who appeared before the press after the game despite coach Tito Vilanova returning to the bench for the first time since spending two months in New York undergoing cancer treatment. Mascherano has a knee ligament injury and will be out for between four and six weeks.

“We will try to ensure that these injuries do not have an impact on the second-leg,” he added, with the return to come at the Camp Nou next week.



“They are two very important players to us, but we have a big enough squad and we certainly have players who are capable of filling in.”

No complaints from Buffon as Juve crash at Bayern

Juventus captain Gianluigi Buffon admitted his side could have no complaints after their 2-0 defeat at Bayern Munich in the other Champions League quarter-final first-leg.

“We were facing a great team, we were very confident, but we have nothing to complain about,” admitted the veteran goal-keeper. “Bayern clearly deserved this victory and they also had other chances to score more during the game.”

Bayern take a significant lead to Turin for next Wednesday’s return leg after an early goal from Austria’s David Alaba and a second-half strike from Germany’s Thomas Mueller at the Allianz Arena put the Germans in pole position to win.

“We know there is still the return leg to play and we can certainly hope for a comeback,” said Juventus’ veteran Italy midfielder Andrea Pirlo.

“Obviously it’s never easy when you play away and you concede a goal after less than one minute, but Bayern played better than us for the entire 90 minutes. It was very difficult for us to play our normal game.”

Published in The Express Tribune, April 4^th, 2013.