An Existential Experience

On this week’s episode, Robbie Dunne and Jamie Kemp go back through an existential crisis-inducing Champions League week. It feels like the end of an era for Barcelona, who succumbed to PSG with their lowest percentage of possession in the Champions League since Opta started recording this stat. Robbie and Jamie talk about Xavi and Luis Enrique’s approaches and where Barcelona go from here. On the same night, Atlético Madrid lost to Borussia Dortmund and are also looking at the end of an era with a massive summer planned to rebuild their squad.

And then Real Madrid come out and beat Manchester City on penalties in one of the most bizarre games in recent Champions League history. Man City’s field tilt in the game was 89% – the highest Opta have on record for a Champions League KO stage game without any red cards and they had 88 touches in the opposition box, compared to 12 for Real Madrid. This was utter domination on a statistical level but Robbie and Jamie try their best to explain the inexplicable as Real Madrid march on.