Pedri’s ‘pure natural talent’ hailed by Rio Ferdinand and Peter Crouch after Barcelona star’s sublime assist for Raphinha against PSG… less than a MINUTE after coming on!
- Pedri set up Raphinha for the second goal in Barcelona’s 3-2 win over PSG
- PSG 2-3 Barcelona: Gianluigi Donnarumma puts goalkeeper disaster class
- Could Erik ten Hag find himself back at Ajax? Listen to the It all starts podcast
Pedri was hailed as a ‘pure natural talent’ after Barcelona star Raphinha set up the second goal in the 3-2 win over PSG.
The France side were 2-1 up in the second half when former Leeds winger Raphinha ran onto Pedri’s clipped pass over his shoulder and smashed home with the outside of his left foot.
The sublime skill in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final impressed TNT Sport experts Peter Crouch and Rio Ferdinand.
Crouch said: “Honestly it’s just beautiful from start to finish from Pedri.
“Your blood is pumping, you just came onto the field. The calmest man you know can play that time of the game because he just gets to the first touch and then takes nothing away from the finish, other than the left foot over the shoulder, like so much to admire technically in that goal.”
Barcelona’s Raphinha (R) celebrates his second goal with Jules Kounde and Pedri
Rio Ferdinand added: ‘That pass he plays is such a difficult pass to play straight, especially in the middle of the pitch to play a straight pass because you have to judge where the goalkeeper is, or which is also only a few centimeters away through which the goalkeeper runs.
“If it’s too short, the defender has it. It actually only has a small window of about half a meter to play in, and it is absolutely perfect.
‘To have that cold come on after 51 seconds, that’s pure natural talent.’
Raphinha put the visitors ahead with a rebound in the 37th minute after goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma failed to clear a cross from his penalty area.
Donnarumma appeared nervous throughout the match, showing poor timing and making mistakes that almost led to Barcelona scoring the opener earlier in the first half.
However, PSG looked transformed after the break with manager Luis Enrique, a former Barca player and coach, turning things around and bringing in Bradley Barcola for Marco Asensio.
The attacking substitution resulted in the equalizer in the 48th minute when former Barcelona winder Ousmane Dembele smashed the ball into the top corner after scoring a rebound in the penalty area and making a quick cut to the left, before unleashing an unstoppable shot between three defenders.
Barca were still reeling when the hosts took the lead through Vitinha, who curled the ball home from a quick counter-attack two minutes later and substitute Bradley Barcola almost scored the third minute later when his shot from close range hit the crossbar.
Barcelona star Pedri was praised by TNT Sport experts Rio Ferdinand and Peter Crouch
But Raphinha’s deft volley in the 62nd minute after a brilliant long pass from substitute Pedri leveled the match and silenced the home crowd.
Andreas Christensen came off the bench to take advantage of a static Donnarumma by leaping unchallenged into the six-yard box and heading in from a corner 13 minutes from time to give the Spanish side a slim lead going into next week’s second leg .
