Pedri’s ‘pure natural talent’ hailed by Rio Ferdinand and Peter Crouch after Barcelona star’s sublime assist for Raphinha against PSG… less than a MINUTE after coming on!

Pedri was hailed as a ‘pure natural talent’ after the Barcelona star set up Raphinha for the second goal in the 3-2 win over PSG.

The French side were leading 2-1 in the second-half when former Leeds winger Raphinha ran on to Pedri’s clipped pass over his shoulder and volleyed home with the outside of his left foot.

The sublime skill in the Champions League quarter-final first-leg tie impressed TNT Sport pundits Peter Crouch and Rio Ferdinand.

Crouch said: ‘Honestly, it’s just beautiful from start to finish from Pedri.

‘Your bloods pumping right, you’ve just come on the pitch. The calmest man you know be able to play that pass that time of the game as he’s just come on pretty first touch and then don’t take anything away from the finish, outside of the left foot over the shoulder like so much to admire technically in that goal.’

Rio Ferdinand added: ‘That pass he plays there is such a hard pass to play straight, especially in the middle of the pitch to play a straight pass because you’ve got to judge where the goalkeeper is, if it’s an inch or two too far the keeper runs through. 

‘If it’s too short, the defender has it. He’s only got really a small window of probably about half a meter to play in, and he gets absolutely spot on.

‘To do that cold coming on after 51 seconds, that’s just down to pure natural talent.’

Raphinha gave the visitors the lead with a rebound strike in the 37th minute after goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma failed to clear a cross from his box.

Donnarumma looked nervous throughout the match, showing bad timing and making errors that almost led to Barcelona scoring the opener earlier in the first half.

However, PSG looked transformed after the break with manager Luis Enrique, a former Barca player and coach, switching things up and bringing on forward Bradley Barcola for Marco Asensio.

The attacking change resulted in the equaliser in the 48th minute when former Barca winder Ousmane Dembele smashed the ball into the top corner after scooping a rebound inside the box and making a quick cut to his left, before unleashing a unstoppable shot between three defenders.

Barca were still reeling when the hosts took the lead through Vitinha who stroked the ball in two minutes later from a quick counter attack and substitute Bradley Barcola almost scored the third minutes later when his close-range strike hit the cross bar.

Barcelona star Pedri was hailed by TNT Sport pundits Rio Ferdinand and Peter Crouch

But Raphinha’s deft volley in the 62nd minute from a brilliant long pass by substitute Pedri brought the match level again, silencing the home crowd.

Andreas Christensen came off the bench to take advantage of a static Donnarumma to jump unchallenged in the six-yard-box and head in from a corner 13 minutes from time to give the Spanish side a narrow advantage going into next week’s second leg.