Vinyals content as Barcelona squeeze out Paris

FC Barcelona coach Jordi Vinyals said his side deserved to go through to the last 16 of the UEFA Youth League after holding Paris Saint-Germain to a goalless draw at the Mini Estadi and finishing runners up to AFC Ajax in Group F.

Paris exit the tournament after failing to get the win they needed. The French side had 14 shots on goal to Barça's eight and squandered a series of opportunities in the second half, but Vinyals denied that his team had enjoyed a touch of fortune. "I don't think we were lucky," he told UEFA.com. "We did what we had to do for the whole game. We defended well and made sure it wasn't easy for them. They didn't have any clear chances.

"When you are defending you have to make life uncomfortable for the opposition and make sure they aren't able to shoot easily. We were able to do that and that's why we are in the next round."

Paris boss Laurent Bonadei, meanwhile, lamented his players' profligacy in front of goal. "We have seen the statistics," he said. "Normally you score about half of the shots you have on target, but we didn't score today, so we needed to be more accurate in the box."

Despite his team being eliminated at the group stage after reaching the quarter-finals of the inaugural tournament last term, Bonadei tried to take some positives from the match and his side's campaign.

"Playing against Barcelona and Ajax has been a fantastic opportunity for us because they are two of the best academies in the world," he noted. "My players are very disappointed, because for many of them this is the end of the Youth League, but it is not the end of their careers. This experience will serve them well."