download All Football App

Spanish papers bill Barca vs PSG as 'ultimate showdown' between Messi and Mbappe

  /  autty

The Champions League meeting of Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain has been boiled down to a showdown between Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe - at least according to the Spanish newspapers.

All the sports dailies feature the two superstars on their front covers on Tuesday morning, ahead of the round of 16, first leg clash at the Nou Camp.

It may be a little unfair on everyone else involved to boil such a titanic contest down to just two men but that's certainly the favoured narrative as a legend who has won the Champions League four times faces a young pretender dreaming of a first triumph.

'Mbappe challenges Messi' is the headline on Tuesday's Diario AS front cover. 'The two global superstars are set for a huge showdown.'

The French striker, described as a 'Real Madrid target', is set to play in Catalonia for the first time in his career with the game happily billed as a test of whether Mbappe can become football's next Messi-esque star.

'Something big is coming', say Marca with close-ups of the two players' faces. 'It's the present v the future' is how they describe the match-up.

There's also mention of PSG manager Mauricio Pochettino, returning to a familiar city having played for and managed Espanyol earlier in his career.

He has claimed that PSG are 'obsessed' with winning the Champions League, even more so having narrowly lost out on the main prize in European football to Bayern Munich last season.

Mundo Deportivo also describe the contest as 'the ultimate' with pictures of the key protagonists on their front cover.

They focus on Ronald Koeman and his faith that his players have what it takes to get the better of PSG despite what has been an underwhelming season.

Barcelona are also confident the visit of PSG won't turn into an audition for Messi ahead of an anticipated summer move away - for the reason that they don't plan to let him leave.

'Champions Deluxe' says the cover of Diario Sport with an eye-catching Champions League-themed backdrop and, you've guessed it, pictured of Messi and Mbappe.

They are the only ones to prominently mention that Neymar will not be returning to his old club for the first leg as he is out with a thigh injury.

You suspect the Brazilian might have won a little more cover space had he been coming back.