Rio Ferdinand hails 'fearlessness' of Barcelona's teen stars in win at Paris Saint-Germain - 'It was unreal'

Rio Ferdinand heaped praise on Barcelona’s youngsters after the Catalans came from 2-1 down to beat Paris Saint-Germain 3-2 in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final at the Parcs des Princes.

The trust Xavi Hernandez put in 17-year-old Pau Cubarsi at centre-back and 16-year-old winger Lamine Yamal was rewarded, with both instrumental in the victory.

“Wonderful football, wonderful moments, goals galore, this competition never ceases to amaze me. It does it every year,” Ferdinand said on TNT Sports.

“You come into it and wonder, ‘What are we going to get?’ Bang. Goals, crazy performances and people that come out of the woodwork.

“These young kids at Barca, they were tremendous today. You look at the performances of players at this level and think it’s the experience that gets them through but sometimes you need that fearlessness of the likes of Cubarsi and Yamal coming in.

“You think what we were doing at 17, 18 years old, there’s no way we could have gone in there and performed at this level with such energy and the aura, the way their chests are out like I’m meant to be here.

“It was unreal, really good to see.”

Yamal played a huge role in Barcelona’s opening goal, his outswinging ball into the box evading two PSG defenders and leaving Gianluigi Donnarumma able only to palm it out to Raphinha, who adjusted himself before slotting home with his weak foot.

At the other end of the pitch, Cubarsi showed composure and discipline above his years to help his side keep Kylian Mbappe quiet on the night, while there were also strong contributions made by Barcelona’s young stars who came off the bench.

Specifically, Pedri, 21, entered the fray on the hour mark and with one of his first touches lofted a pinpoint ball over the top for Raphinha to strike first time past Donnarumma and draw the visitors level at 2-2 before another sub in Andreas Christensen sealed the win.

Crouch echoed Ferdinand’s sentiments and highlighted the way in which Pedri was able to immediately get up to speed in a contest of such magnitude.

“He’s still a young man,” Crouch added. “He’s played a lot of games compared to Yamal and Cubarsi of course but he comes on with just a calmness and presence of mind in a pressure cooker of such an intense game to be able to put his foot on the ball with one of his first touches and play that ball to Raphinha and get them back in it.”

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