“The three attackers were particularly impressive,” former France defender Bixente Lizarazu said following Paris Saint-Germain’s stirring 4-1 win at Barcelona in their Champions League quarter-final second leg. Yet if two of the names mentioned needed no introduction – goalscorers Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé – the third man was a young player making his fourth start in the competition: Bradley Barcola. “He was decisive,” Lizarazu told Téléfoot viewers. “His dribbles, his drive and his speed tortured the entire Barcelona defence.”
Up to that point, Barcelona kids Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsí had been the talk of the tie, but now the cameras were pointing at another bright young thing. Barcola had had just one full season in Lyon’s first team when Paris signed him for a reported €45m fee last summer. Yet Luis Enrique had seen something in the winger that chimed with the vision of how he wanted Paris to play in this post-Messi era: by sucking opponents into midfield and then exposing them with speed from a jet-heeled front three. Eight months later and against Barcelona, Barcola came of age. “I told myself that I’d just play my own game,” says a player who, together with Warren Zaïre-Emery, Lucas Beraldo and Nuno Mendes, gives this new-look Paris an air of unpredictability. “A little touch of madness” as he puts it.
The fearlessness of youth helps – even after Raphinha had extended Barcelona’s aggregate advantage to 4-2 with 12 minutes played of the second leg in Catalonia. “When we let a goal in, I often look at my team-mates instinctively to see their faces. There wasn’t any doubt. I didn’t feel any fear. We all had the same mentality, and I guess that’s why we managed to get ourselves back into the tie.”
Barcola was the spark that lit the comeback fuse. Just before the half-hour, he drifted into space on the left, isolating Ronald Araújo, and then sprinted on to a through ball. The defender brought him down and was sent off. Before half-time there was another pivotal moment, Barcola whipping in a ball to Dembélé to score at the far post. Quite a contribution for a player nearly sent out on loan by Lyon before tearing up Ligue 1 in the second half of last term. Few were expecting him to have such a swift impact at the Parc des Princes, yet now there are suggestions of a place in France’s EURO 2024 squad. He speaks to Champions Journal during the week of Paris’s 4-1 win against his old side Lyon – when he equalled his total number of Ligue 1 starts from last season (15). The spotlight is intense, but he displays a quiet confidence in conversation. In contrast to his lightning speed on the pitch, he takes his time over his answers. He is in no rush. “I’m not someone who speaks a lot, so I was very calm when I first arrived,” he says. “I told myself that if Paris signed me, it was because I was worth something. I told myself that I’d play my own game on the pitch and we’d see what happens.”
“The three attackers were particularly impressive,” former France defender Bixente Lizarazu said following Paris Saint-Germain’s stirring 4-1 win at Barcelona in their Champions League quarter-final second leg. Yet if two of the names mentioned needed no introduction – goalscorers Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé – the third man was a young player making his fourth start in the competition: Bradley Barcola. “He was decisive,” Lizarazu told Téléfoot viewers. “His dribbles, his drive and his speed tortured the entire Barcelona defence.”
Up to that point, Barcelona kids Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsí had been the talk of the tie, but now the cameras were pointing at another bright young thing. Barcola had had just one full season in Lyon’s first team when Paris signed him for a reported €45m fee last summer. Yet Luis Enrique had seen something in the winger that chimed with the vision of how he wanted Paris to play in this post-Messi era: by sucking opponents into midfield and then exposing them with speed from a jet-heeled front three. Eight months later and against Barcelona, Barcola came of age. “I told myself that I’d just play my own game,” says a player who, together with Warren Zaïre-Emery, Lucas Beraldo and Nuno Mendes, gives this new-look Paris an air of unpredictability. “A little touch of madness” as he puts it.
The fearlessness of youth helps – even after Raphinha had extended Barcelona’s aggregate advantage to 4-2 with 12 minutes played of the second leg in Catalonia. “When we let a goal in, I often look at my team-mates instinctively to see their faces. There wasn’t any doubt. I didn’t feel any fear. We all had the same mentality, and I guess that’s why we managed to get ourselves back into the tie.”
Barcola was the spark that lit the comeback fuse. Just before the half-hour, he drifted into space on the left, isolating Ronald Araújo, and then sprinted on to a through ball. The defender brought him down and was sent off. Before half-time there was another pivotal moment, Barcola whipping in a ball to Dembélé to score at the far post. Quite a contribution for a player nearly sent out on loan by Lyon before tearing up Ligue 1 in the second half of last term. Few were expecting him to have such a swift impact at the Parc des Princes, yet now there are suggestions of a place in France’s EURO 2024 squad. He speaks to Champions Journal during the week of Paris’s 4-1 win against his old side Lyon – when he equalled his total number of Ligue 1 starts from last season (15). The spotlight is intense, but he displays a quiet confidence in conversation. In contrast to his lightning speed on the pitch, he takes his time over his answers. He is in no rush. “I’m not someone who speaks a lot, so I was very calm when I first arrived,” he says. “I told myself that if Paris signed me, it was because I was worth something. I told myself that I’d play my own game on the pitch and we’d see what happens.”
As a kid, Barcola’s inspiration was his elder brother Malcolm, three years his senior and a fellow Lyon academy graduate. “Every time I saw him, I wanted to play. I watched his games and would play with a ball on the touchline.” The fact Malcolm is a goalkeeper also helped. “I trained with him when I was a kid. He was in goal and I could shoot at him. My brother and I would play on a pitch next to our house, and we trained almost every day.”
That work ethic has paid off, with Barcola also taking his lead from a player he followed from afar, Cristiano Ronaldo. “Seeing him score in almost every match, even in the finals, and carrying teams [with] his mentality of never giving up and working hard left the greatest mark on me and has driven me to where I am today.” His own first Champions League goal against Real Sociedad in February was a source of “great pride” and he adds: “It was a childhood dream to play in these games so scoring in front of our fans and my family who were there was, honestly, quite incredible.”
Frighteningly for opposition defences, he says he is still learning – “how to accelerate with the ball is something that I’ve only recently mastered” – and is soaking up as much as possible from his team-mates. “You can only get better when you train with big players like them,” he says of Messrs Mbappé and Dembélé. “They both give me a lot of advice. For example, Ousmane tells me to get on the ball and play. He says, ‘It’s a one-on-one, don’t ask yourself too many questions.’ The same goes for Kylian. Off the field, we have a laugh. They’re older but they’re young at heart. Things feel really natural between us, really natural indeed.” And it shows.
“The three attackers were particularly impressive,” former France defender Bixente Lizarazu said following Paris Saint-Germain’s stirring 4-1 win at Barcelona in their Champions League quarter-final second leg. Yet if two of the names mentioned needed no introduction – goalscorers Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé – the third man was a young player making his fourth start in the competition: Bradley Barcola. “He was decisive,” Lizarazu told Téléfoot viewers. “His dribbles, his drive and his speed tortured the entire Barcelona defence.”
Up to that point, Barcelona kids Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsí had been the talk of the tie, but now the cameras were pointing at another bright young thing. Barcola had had just one full season in Lyon’s first team when Paris signed him for a reported €45m fee last summer. Yet Luis Enrique had seen something in the winger that chimed with the vision of how he wanted Paris to play in this post-Messi era: by sucking opponents into midfield and then exposing them with speed from a jet-heeled front three. Eight months later and against Barcelona, Barcola came of age. “I told myself that I’d just play my own game,” says a player who, together with Warren Zaïre-Emery, Lucas Beraldo and Nuno Mendes, gives this new-look Paris an air of unpredictability. “A little touch of madness” as he puts it.
The fearlessness of youth helps – even after Raphinha had extended Barcelona’s aggregate advantage to 4-2 with 12 minutes played of the second leg in Catalonia. “When we let a goal in, I often look at my team-mates instinctively to see their faces. There wasn’t any doubt. I didn’t feel any fear. We all had the same mentality, and I guess that’s why we managed to get ourselves back into the tie.”
Barcola was the spark that lit the comeback fuse. Just before the half-hour, he drifted into space on the left, isolating Ronald Araújo, and then sprinted on to a through ball. The defender brought him down and was sent off. Before half-time there was another pivotal moment, Barcola whipping in a ball to Dembélé to score at the far post. Quite a contribution for a player nearly sent out on loan by Lyon before tearing up Ligue 1 in the second half of last term. Few were expecting him to have such a swift impact at the Parc des Princes, yet now there are suggestions of a place in France’s EURO 2024 squad. He speaks to Champions Journal during the week of Paris’s 4-1 win against his old side Lyon – when he equalled his total number of Ligue 1 starts from last season (15). The spotlight is intense, but he displays a quiet confidence in conversation. In contrast to his lightning speed on the pitch, he takes his time over his answers. He is in no rush. “I’m not someone who speaks a lot, so I was very calm when I first arrived,” he says. “I told myself that if Paris signed me, it was because I was worth something. I told myself that I’d play my own game on the pitch and we’d see what happens.”
“The three attackers were particularly impressive,” former France defender Bixente Lizarazu said following Paris Saint-Germain’s stirring 4-1 win at Barcelona in their Champions League quarter-final second leg. Yet if two of the names mentioned needed no introduction – goalscorers Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé – the third man was a young player making his fourth start in the competition: Bradley Barcola. “He was decisive,” Lizarazu told Téléfoot viewers. “His dribbles, his drive and his speed tortured the entire Barcelona defence.”
Up to that point, Barcelona kids Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsí had been the talk of the tie, but now the cameras were pointing at another bright young thing. Barcola had had just one full season in Lyon’s first team when Paris signed him for a reported €45m fee last summer. Yet Luis Enrique had seen something in the winger that chimed with the vision of how he wanted Paris to play in this post-Messi era: by sucking opponents into midfield and then exposing them with speed from a jet-heeled front three. Eight months later and against Barcelona, Barcola came of age. “I told myself that I’d just play my own game,” says a player who, together with Warren Zaïre-Emery, Lucas Beraldo and Nuno Mendes, gives this new-look Paris an air of unpredictability. “A little touch of madness” as he puts it.
The fearlessness of youth helps – even after Raphinha had extended Barcelona’s aggregate advantage to 4-2 with 12 minutes played of the second leg in Catalonia. “When we let a goal in, I often look at my team-mates instinctively to see their faces. There wasn’t any doubt. I didn’t feel any fear. We all had the same mentality, and I guess that’s why we managed to get ourselves back into the tie.”
Barcola was the spark that lit the comeback fuse. Just before the half-hour, he drifted into space on the left, isolating Ronald Araújo, and then sprinted on to a through ball. The defender brought him down and was sent off. Before half-time there was another pivotal moment, Barcola whipping in a ball to Dembélé to score at the far post. Quite a contribution for a player nearly sent out on loan by Lyon before tearing up Ligue 1 in the second half of last term. Few were expecting him to have such a swift impact at the Parc des Princes, yet now there are suggestions of a place in France’s EURO 2024 squad. He speaks to Champions Journal during the week of Paris’s 4-1 win against his old side Lyon – when he equalled his total number of Ligue 1 starts from last season (15). The spotlight is intense, but he displays a quiet confidence in conversation. In contrast to his lightning speed on the pitch, he takes his time over his answers. He is in no rush. “I’m not someone who speaks a lot, so I was very calm when I first arrived,” he says. “I told myself that if Paris signed me, it was because I was worth something. I told myself that I’d play my own game on the pitch and we’d see what happens.”
“The three attackers were particularly impressive,” former France defender Bixente Lizarazu said following Paris Saint-Germain’s stirring 4-1 win at Barcelona in their Champions League quarter-final second leg. Yet if two of the names mentioned needed no introduction – goalscorers Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé – the third man was a young player making his fourth start in the competition: Bradley Barcola. “He was decisive,” Lizarazu told Téléfoot viewers. “His dribbles, his drive and his speed tortured the entire Barcelona defence.”
Up to that point, Barcelona kids Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsí had been the talk of the tie, but now the cameras were pointing at another bright young thing. Barcola had had just one full season in Lyon’s first team when Paris signed him for a reported €45m fee last summer. Yet Luis Enrique had seen something in the winger that chimed with the vision of how he wanted Paris to play in this post-Messi era: by sucking opponents into midfield and then exposing them with speed from a jet-heeled front three. Eight months later and against Barcelona, Barcola came of age. “I told myself that I’d just play my own game,” says a player who, together with Warren Zaïre-Emery, Lucas Beraldo and Nuno Mendes, gives this new-look Paris an air of unpredictability. “A little touch of madness” as he puts it.
The fearlessness of youth helps – even after Raphinha had extended Barcelona’s aggregate advantage to 4-2 with 12 minutes played of the second leg in Catalonia. “When we let a goal in, I often look at my team-mates instinctively to see their faces. There wasn’t any doubt. I didn’t feel any fear. We all had the same mentality, and I guess that’s why we managed to get ourselves back into the tie.”
Barcola was the spark that lit the comeback fuse. Just before the half-hour, he drifted into space on the left, isolating Ronald Araújo, and then sprinted on to a through ball. The defender brought him down and was sent off. Before half-time there was another pivotal moment, Barcola whipping in a ball to Dembélé to score at the far post. Quite a contribution for a player nearly sent out on loan by Lyon before tearing up Ligue 1 in the second half of last term. Few were expecting him to have such a swift impact at the Parc des Princes, yet now there are suggestions of a place in France’s EURO 2024 squad. He speaks to Champions Journal during the week of Paris’s 4-1 win against his old side Lyon – when he equalled his total number of Ligue 1 starts from last season (15). The spotlight is intense, but he displays a quiet confidence in conversation. In contrast to his lightning speed on the pitch, he takes his time over his answers. He is in no rush. “I’m not someone who speaks a lot, so I was very calm when I first arrived,” he says. “I told myself that if Paris signed me, it was because I was worth something. I told myself that I’d play my own game on the pitch and we’d see what happens.”
As a kid, Barcola’s inspiration was his elder brother Malcolm, three years his senior and a fellow Lyon academy graduate. “Every time I saw him, I wanted to play. I watched his games and would play with a ball on the touchline.” The fact Malcolm is a goalkeeper also helped. “I trained with him when I was a kid. He was in goal and I could shoot at him. My brother and I would play on a pitch next to our house, and we trained almost every day.”
That work ethic has paid off, with Barcola also taking his lead from a player he followed from afar, Cristiano Ronaldo. “Seeing him score in almost every match, even in the finals, and carrying teams [with] his mentality of never giving up and working hard left the greatest mark on me and has driven me to where I am today.” His own first Champions League goal against Real Sociedad in February was a source of “great pride” and he adds: “It was a childhood dream to play in these games so scoring in front of our fans and my family who were there was, honestly, quite incredible.”
Frighteningly for opposition defences, he says he is still learning – “how to accelerate with the ball is something that I’ve only recently mastered” – and is soaking up as much as possible from his team-mates. “You can only get better when you train with big players like them,” he says of Messrs Mbappé and Dembélé. “They both give me a lot of advice. For example, Ousmane tells me to get on the ball and play. He says, ‘It’s a one-on-one, don’t ask yourself too many questions.’ The same goes for Kylian. Off the field, we have a laugh. They’re older but they’re young at heart. Things feel really natural between us, really natural indeed.” And it shows.
“The three attackers were particularly impressive,” former France defender Bixente Lizarazu said following Paris Saint-Germain’s stirring 4-1 win at Barcelona in their Champions League quarter-final second leg. Yet if two of the names mentioned needed no introduction – goalscorers Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé – the third man was a young player making his fourth start in the competition: Bradley Barcola. “He was decisive,” Lizarazu told Téléfoot viewers. “His dribbles, his drive and his speed tortured the entire Barcelona defence.”
Up to that point, Barcelona kids Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsí had been the talk of the tie, but now the cameras were pointing at another bright young thing. Barcola had had just one full season in Lyon’s first team when Paris signed him for a reported €45m fee last summer. Yet Luis Enrique had seen something in the winger that chimed with the vision of how he wanted Paris to play in this post-Messi era: by sucking opponents into midfield and then exposing them with speed from a jet-heeled front three. Eight months later and against Barcelona, Barcola came of age. “I told myself that I’d just play my own game,” says a player who, together with Warren Zaïre-Emery, Lucas Beraldo and Nuno Mendes, gives this new-look Paris an air of unpredictability. “A little touch of madness” as he puts it.
The fearlessness of youth helps – even after Raphinha had extended Barcelona’s aggregate advantage to 4-2 with 12 minutes played of the second leg in Catalonia. “When we let a goal in, I often look at my team-mates instinctively to see their faces. There wasn’t any doubt. I didn’t feel any fear. We all had the same mentality, and I guess that’s why we managed to get ourselves back into the tie.”
Barcola was the spark that lit the comeback fuse. Just before the half-hour, he drifted into space on the left, isolating Ronald Araújo, and then sprinted on to a through ball. The defender brought him down and was sent off. Before half-time there was another pivotal moment, Barcola whipping in a ball to Dembélé to score at the far post. Quite a contribution for a player nearly sent out on loan by Lyon before tearing up Ligue 1 in the second half of last term. Few were expecting him to have such a swift impact at the Parc des Princes, yet now there are suggestions of a place in France’s EURO 2024 squad. He speaks to Champions Journal during the week of Paris’s 4-1 win against his old side Lyon – when he equalled his total number of Ligue 1 starts from last season (15). The spotlight is intense, but he displays a quiet confidence in conversation. In contrast to his lightning speed on the pitch, he takes his time over his answers. He is in no rush. “I’m not someone who speaks a lot, so I was very calm when I first arrived,” he says. “I told myself that if Paris signed me, it was because I was worth something. I told myself that I’d play my own game on the pitch and we’d see what happens.”
