Remontada: when sport beats science !

 Remontada: when sport beats science !

 

In the current context of Champions League final stages, I offer you in this article a review of one of the most famous football games ever. The Remontada is the name of a famous football match played the 8^th of March 2017. The opponents were Paris Saint Germain versus Football Club of Barcelona. That was the second leg of the Champions League Round of 8 and during the first leg, PSG won 4-0 at home, in Paris, which means that in order to be qualified, Barcelona had to win by 5-0 or 6-1 in their famous stadium called Camp Nou. This game is so famous because it was supposed to be impossible to lose for the French team. Never a football team that had won 4-0 in the first leg, did not qualify in the entire Champions League’s history, so all prognostics and probability gave PSG winner by 100%. They could lose but not by 5-0 and 6-1 and be disqualified.

 

The kick-off is whistled and the Barca’s stadium Camp Nou is burning with the fan’s fervour. Barca’s player are motivated like never before because they have no choice, they have to create a miracle, to achieve the impossible. After 2 minutes and 30 seconds, Luis Suarez scores a goal for Barca: 1-0. At the 40^th minutes, PSG makes a mistake: 2-0. All the Parisian players are paralysed, lost on the field, looking for confidence in front of the unimaginable occurring. After half-time, the PSG’s players still seem overwhelmed by events and at the 49^th minutes, Leo Messi scores a penalty for Barcelona: 3-0.

 

At this moment, all the Barca’s fans start to believe in the miracle. Finally, why not? This team of Barcelona is one of the most beautiful in the football history with wonderful players such as Messi, Iniesta, Neymar, or Suarez. If one team could reverse such a situation, it would be that one and unrealistic speeches are starting to become possible.  All the PSG’s players look desperate, without any reaction as if they were petrified by the Catalan fury.

 

61st minutes, 20 minutes before the end, Barca is still pushing. A PSG defender kicked one ball strangely in the Barcelona penalty area and the PSG’s striker Edinson Cavani scores: 3-1. It is a cold shower, the end of the dream for all Catalonia people. PSG’s players are exulting, they did it, the impossible will not occur, not today, not against them. Now, it is Barca’s players who are lost, they do not play anymore, they walk on the field and are waiting for the elimination. Now, statistics and probabilities give PSG winner by far more than 100%, from the scientific point of view, the game is won.

 

However, at the 87^th minutes, 5 minutes last, a usual free kick is whistled for Barcelona. Neymar takes his responsibility and shoots it with the energy of desperation: 4-1. He gets the ball back, runs to play faster but the crowd is lazy to believe again. They need to score two goals in 5 minutes, it is impossible. 89^th minutes, with all his rage, Suarez gets a penalty and Neymar scored it: 5-1. PSG players are shocked: what is happening again?! The stadium is burning again, all the supporters freezing of hope, noise makes everyone deaf. The last ball of the game comes, the pressure is suffocating, Neymar makes the curve of the last hope, a lost ball. Sergio Roberto, Barca’s right back touches it, the ball goes directly into the net: goal. 6-1. An entire region blows up, they did it, they made the impossible occur. All prognostics, probabilities and sciences have been destroyed by the sport, its magic, its unpredictability. They did it. Sport can be studied scientifically but is always surprising: that is why we love it.  

Thomas Hauret

picture's source: https://icdn.psgtalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Sergio-Roberto-Barcelona-vs-PSG-Champions-League-2017.jpg