Barcelona: Paris St Germain's performance in this season's Champions League gives them a strong base on which to build for another attempt at winning a first European crown next season, according to coach Carlo Ancelotti.
Narrowly denied a place in the last four by Barcelona on Wednesday after giving the favourites a mighty scare at the Nou Camp, PSG are closing in on the Ligue 1 title and a place in the 2013-14 edition of Europe's elite club competition.
The ambitious Qatar-owned side are one of soccer's biggest spenders in recent years and hired Italian Ancelotti, one of only six men to win the European Cup as a player and a coach, in December 2011 to mould a squad packed with expensive talent into continental champions.
"It's a very good foundation on which to improve next year," Ancelotti told a news conference after Wednesday's 1-1 quarter-final, second leg draw in the Catalan capital, which put Barca through 3-3 on aggregate on away goals. "We played 10 matches and we only lost one, against Porto (in the group stage)," he added.
"We played against some great teams and we gathered experience. The goal for next year is to advance further than the quarter-finals."
PSG were leading Barca 3-2 over the two legs after midfielder Javier Pastore struck five minutes after halftime on Wednesday.
However, the introduction of Pastore's Argentina team mate Lionel Messi, who strained a hamstring in last week's 2-2 draw in Paris and only received the all-clear shortly before kickoff, galvanised Barca and Pedro levelled 19 minutes from time.
"Messi gave his team mates more confidence, he's a fantastic player," Ancelotti said.
"We showed solidity, character and most importantly an identity," he added. "It's something that takes time, which is very hard to create and tonight we created enormous problems for a fantastic team. We can improve, we can be more competitive and we will do better next year."
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