Champions: Barça and PSG dominate and confirm their bid for the "Orejona"

Hansi Flick's FC Barcelona and Luis Enrique's Paris Saint-Germain confirmed once again that they are the two teams at the top of their game in European soccer and the two top candidates, with the permission of the big teams in the running, to win this edition of the UEFA Champions League.

With a new exhibition by Lamine Yamal, perfectly shielded by his attacking teammates and an energetic Fermín López, Barcelona, the Culés dispatched a weak and anarchic Borussia Dortmund, who were far from the competitive version of last season, when they were able to reach the Champions League final after eliminating teams of the caliber of Atlético de Madrid or PSG.

With an insistent and decisive Yamal, Barça overwhelmed a Dortmund that presented no opposition, being overcome from the first minute by the dizzying pace of the Catalan team.

Kobel, not in vain, had to get his uniform dirty on several occasions to save his goal from the shots of Lewandowski and Yamal, which already warned how the match would develop.

Finally, Germany's defensive siege was broken in the 25th minute by an unconventional way for Flick's team: the set piece.

A cross from Fermín López, who made a great contribution, became a goal-scoring move thanks to Iñigo Martínez's pivot for the final touch from Pau Cubarsí, who was becoming more and more established in the Culé back line. Raphinha, who had hardly been involved in the match, nevertheless tapped the ball before it entered the end line, officially claiming the goal to reach his twelfth conversion in the current edition.

Thus, Barça, knowing they were superior, found the most difficult goal at a time when Dortmund were still dreaming of making a competitive playoff.

In fact, the German team managed to resist until the second half, even having a few chances at the feet of Guirassy, who dashed the few hopes of Dortmund to tie the match.

Then, Barça, in a second half from hell, finished off the tie just as the game was about to end. First, through an exclusive move by their lethal trident: Yamal, Lewy, and Raphinha. The young Spanish winger, true to his style, headed down the right and put in a very fair cross for the arrival of the Brazilian, who headed the ball past the Pole inches from the goal, once again becoming the executioner of his ex-team.

Then, once again, Yamal led the umpteenth run by Barcelona, finding Fermin Lopez in space, who perfectly accompanied the counterattack and assisted with precision to a lone and lethal Lewandowski at the penalty spot. With his two goals, the Polish striker reached 11 goals in the edition, behind only his own teammate Raphinha, a fact that reflects the culé offensive power.

The culé work was culminated by Yamal himself, who, despite his plethoric performance, had neither scored nor assisted and wanted to score in the official scoreboard with a "romaristic" definition, a resource increasingly forgotten in modern football.

However, the goal or the assist, invaluable in soccer, are statistics that for now do not reflect or honor all that Yamal generates through dribbling, unbalance and playmaking. A player who is leading, at just 17 years of age, the offense of the team that is making the biggest impact in European soccer.

PSG is a candidate

Without lagging far behind Barça, PSG also exhibited a soccer clinic against Unai Emery's Aston Villa.

With Kvaratskhelia ('Kvaradona'), Ousmane Dembélé, and the jewel Désiré Doué, PSG ran roughshod over the 'villain' defense, generating an immense amount of chances in a match that was not scored only because of the figure of the whistled Dibu Martinez, the world champion Argentine goalkeeper who was once again whistled on his return to a French pitch.

While Kvaradona, Dembélé, and, especially, Doué were in charge of transmitting danger in each of their interventions, Fabián Ruiz, João Neves, and Vitinha were in charge of handling everything in the engine room, well accompanied by the fullbacks Hakimi and Nuno Mendes, author of a stunning goal at the end of the match to sentence the final 1-3.

Long before that, after being subdued for an extended half hour, it was Villa who struck first at 35' of the first half with a brilliant counter-attack that was finished off at pleasure by Morgan Rogers.

However, undeterred, PSG responded through the special talent of Doué, who in the 39' took the ball, faced his left foot, and nailed a right-footed shot into the upper left corner, leaving without response a Martinez who could only make the statue before one of the great goals of the entire competition. From then on, there was only one team on the field.

Kvaratskhelia, who joined PSG from Napoli in the winter transfer window, received the ball from Ruiz on the counter and, with a deadly and absolutely aesthetic move, broke the waist of Axel Disasi, setting up his left-footed shot and burning the near post of Martinez, who also had no chance to stop the powerful shot from the Georgian.

It then became clear that PSG, once again, despite not having Neymar, Mbappé, or even Lionel Messi in their ranks, has one of the most talented squads in all of European soccer and one of the most assembled teams in the league.