Luis Enrique made a triumphant return to Barcelona by eliminating his old team from the Champions League. Kylian Mbappe led Paris Saint-Germain to a thrilling 4-1 second-leg triumph, which they won 6-4 overall.
They overcame deficits of 3-2 in the first leg and 1-0 on Tuesday to advance to the final four, where they will take on Borussia Dortmund in the battle for a spot in the Wembley final.
On this particular night, Barcelona’s lead was increased when Raphinha converted a cross from Lamine Yamal (12). The decision by referee Istvan Kovacs to dismiss Ronald Araujo for a professional foul (29) on Bradley Barcola, however, was what ultimately decided the game.
Before the interval, PSG (40) used Ousmane Dembele to pull themselves back into the tie. They were merciless in making their numerical advantage count.
After the break, Enrique’s team didn’t let up as Vintinha tied the score with a brilliant goal(54) and Mbappe gave the French team the advantage on aggregate (61), following a careless challenge by Joao Cancelo in the box.
A thrilling evening at the Estadio Olimpico de Montjuic concluded when Mbappe extended PSG’s lead after capitalising on a clumsy clearing from Jules Kounde after Marc-Andre ter Stegen had saved his opening effort. Barcelona was now allocating players forward.
Dortmund is the team PSG will now face in the semifinals; the two teams already faced each other during the competition’s group round.
How PSG made the extra man count…
When Raphinha moved in front of Achraf Hakimi to meet Yamal’s inviting cross, Barcelona got off to the ideal start. With the assist, Yamal—who is 16 years and 278 days old—became the youngest player to record a goal involvement in the Champions League knockout stages.
But the home team had more than an hour to keep PSG to a single goal when Araujo pulled down Barcola outside the box as he raced onto Nuno Mendes’ pass. The crowd that had been jeering the former Barcelona star the entire time was momentarily silenced when Dembele reached the far post to meet Barcola’s low cross in front of Joao Cancelo.
The French champions took the lead early in the game thanks to a brilliant shot from Vitinha, and Barcelona’s manager Xavi was thrown off for kicking several water bottles, adding to their aggravation.
After Cancelo had taken down Dembele inside the area, Mbappe scored from the penalty spot to put an end to the Spanish team’s suffering.
In an attempt to send the match into extra time, Mbappe capitalised on a counterattack by scoring from close range to secure a semi-final spot against Borussia Dortmund.
On Sunday, April 21, Barcelona takes on La Liga leaders Real Madrid in an El Clasico. With a victory, Barca can cut Real’s lead to five points.
On Sunday, PSG, who now lead Ligue 1 by ten points, will play Lyon at home.
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