At least we didn't lose, right? Given that Barcelona recovered from a two-goal deficit to reach this stage of the competition, at face value yesterday's result should be classified as a successful night at the office. With two away goals to their name, the Blaugrana should have the upper-hand - especially when one considers their home record at this stage of the competition - but with both Lionel Messi and Javier Mascherano likely to miss the return-leg in a week's time; well, that less than ideal. In Lionel Messi, Barcelona have lost their talisman, their leader, and crucially, their main source of goals. And with Mascherano at the opposite end of the field, Barcelona have arguably lost their best centre-half.
On the other hand, Paris Saint-Germain will also be without key players - Thiago Motta is injured, and he will be joined on the sideline by a suspended Blaise Matuidi who picked up his third yellow card of the competition. Zlatan Ibrahimovic may have scored, but the Swede looked a shadow of his usual self - and aside from Thiago Silva, one might argue that the majority of their star names failed to perform.
It's been five years since Barcelona last won a UEFA Champions League knock-out match without Lionel Messi in the starting XI - a 1-0 win over Schalke at the Camp Nou. Yaya Toure got the goal, and Barcelona progressed to the semi-finals. When all is said and done, we are going to have to learn to play without Messi eventually, so we might as well start next week...
