Champions League: Barcelona must hit PSG for six if they are to reach the Champions League quarter-finals

Luis Enrique in belligerent mood as Barcelona attempt to defy history against PSG

With the way he is so willingly talking up the possibility of smashing in six goals against one of Europe’s best sides, it would be difficult to deny Luis Enrique has struck the right tone, as his Barcelona seek to defy history.

The truth, however, is that it’s difficult to know what the right tone is for a second leg like this against Paris Saint-Germain.

No-one in the 62-year history of the European Cup and Champions League has overturned a four-goal deficit from the first leg. Sure, it has happened three times in the other continental competitions, but all of those involved an away goal. None of them meanwhile involved a side as accomplished as Unai Emery’s PSG.

There is no precedent whatsoever for what Barcelona are trying to do, no previous examples. Not even Leo Messi has conjured something so seemingly impossible, although he now must try.

It was all the more impressive then that Luis Enrique was so strident, that he was so successfully making the near-impossible seem possible. He was talking as if this really is on, that it really is not that much of a stretch to think this Barcelona can overturn a 4-0 PSG lead. He was convincing. He made you believe.“If a team can score four times against us, we can score six times against them. We have seen that before this season. We have nothing to lose.

“My optimism does not mean I have unbreakable faith, but there are all sorts of performances in sports, negatives and positives. We have not been in a situation like this before, but I have faith in the team. You always have to keep your emotions in check.

“I am not interested in becoming part of history. But I am convinced we will get chances. That does not mean it is definitely going to happen, but I think we can get close and boost morale even further, which could affect our opponents.

“I don’t have the feeling that we need the best game since I got here. We obviously have to play well and really effective. But it depends on how the match goes.”

That assertiveness, and the convincingly open way that Luis Enrique spoke, is in-keeping with a change in his demeanour over the last few weeks and especially since he announced he would be leaving at the end of the season. It really is as if he has been released, has “nothing to lose” as he put it, and is freer to say what he wants and to try things.

That, of course, has led to a change in Barca too; a new feel to the team. Luis Enrique has tried a new formation in moving to three at the back - a tactical nuance, in truth, that many thought beyond him - and it has seen the team move onto an extra level. Several extra levels, really.