Xavi asks for ‘boiling point atmosphere’ ahead of Barcelona’s Champions League home clash against PSG

The biggest game of Barcelona’s season has arrived as the Catalans decide their European fate with the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie with Paris Saint-Germain at the Montjuïc Olympic Stadium.

Barça carry a 3-2 advantage after an epic comeback in the first leg and now have the chance to finish the job at home, and Xavi Hernández wants the crowd to play a big part in the team’s ability to qualify for the semi-finals.

Speaking in a press conference on Monday the coach guaranteed his team will play with a winning attitude, and he wants the fans at Montjuïc to bring the same intensity to the stands and create a very hostile atmosphere for PSG.

“We’re not a team that will sit on our lead, we want to take the ball off PSG and win the game. I hope we are at our best, they will test us to the limit — I see a game very similar to the first leg.

“It’s the Champions League, it’s Paris, and a game in which no one will be holding back. The key will be to be a team, I think. We have to give our all and our lives and that means being a team. moving to the semi-finals would be a resounding success for the club, for the staff or for the players.

“We are playing at home and Montjuïc has to be a big night venue. It will have to be a boiling point atmosphere. We need the fans because there will be tricky moments and PSG will make us work hard and so at this time we have to be united.”

The crowd at Montjuïc has been hit and miss this season, but there’s no doubt they have brought the right level of energy to every big home game so far this season. They need to be at their best on Tuesday night, and they can’t just react to whatever happens on the pitch.

It’s a shame that this game is not taking place at Camp Nou, but Montjuïc can still become a fortress if the players and the fans are on the same page all night. As Xavi says this has to be a team effort, and that includes the 50,000 who are expected to fill the stadium.