stunning, PSG eliminates FC Barcelona and reaches the semi-finals

Seven years after the terrible comeback, the Parisians in turn turned the situation around (4-1), Tuesday in Catalonia, with a double from Kylian Mbappé.

They did it ! Paris Saint-Germain players defied the odds and overthrew FC Barcelona in the quarter-final second leg of the Champions League (3-1), Tuesday April 16. Despite a goal behind after the defeat at the Parc des Princes in the first leg (2-3) and the early Barcelona opening score by Raphinha (12th), PSG managed to accomplish what no French club had managed to do before him: qualify after losing a quarter-final first leg at home in C1.

“I am convinced that we will do it”, had stated Luis Enrique the day before, sure of himself. The Parisian coach, architect of the comeback on the Barça side in 2017, reproduced the magic by reversing winners and losers. He also predicted that his team would probably concede at least one goal. It happened, on Barcelona’s first breakthrough and against the flow of play. The double scorer from the first leg, Raphinha, was lurking in the right place to take the center from the prodigy Lamine Yamal (12th). But PSG had prepared for it.

Barça at 10 after 30 minutes

It took him a few minutes to get back into his match and regain the momentum at the start of the match. Kylian Mbappé had the first real Parisian opportunity but his shot was knocked off target by Marc-André ter Stegen (28th). A minute later, the turning point of the meeting occurred. Late to intervene on Bradley Barcola, who went alone towards the goal, Barça defender Ronald Araujo received a red card (29th), leaving his team outnumbered for more than an hour.

Without rushing, Paris took advantage of it by relying on a weapon from which it was not able to fully benefit in the first leg: Barcola’s ability to make the difference. Shifted perfectly by Vitinha, it was he who was at the origin of the cross which allowed his team to equalize. Obviously, as football likes to use irony, it was Ousmane Dembélé who spoiled Barça’s evening (40th). In the crosshairs of his former supporters, who hardly appreciated his goal and his celebration in the first leg, he was greeted with a shower of insults and jerseys flocked with his name were burned around the stadium. Dembélé chose his moment well. Of the three goals he has scored this season, two have been in these quarter-finals.

At 1-1 at the break, everything still remained to be done for Paris Saint-Germain but the crestfallen expressions of the Blaugrana supporters gave a glimpse of the outcome of the evening. With one less player and without Lamine Yamal, sacrificed by his coach to bring in a defender, Barça ended up losing their standoff. Already a scorer in the first leg, Vitinha scored again with a strike at the edge of the area (54th) following a combination from a corner; a phase of play which made the capital club suffer in the other direction on the first leg.

Mbappé extends his European adventure with PSG

Determined to press where it hurts, Ousmane Dembélé obtained a penalty five minutes later by pushing Joao Cancelo to make a mistake. Penalty transformed by Kylian Mbappé (62nd), for whom this was not the last match with PSG in the Champions League. More prominent than the first leg, but not necessarily brilliant, it was he who gave the final blow to Barça, which he will perhaps find next season under the colors of Real Madrid. After a dazzling counterattack from Achraf Hakimi and two saves from Marc-André ter Stegen, the ball came back to him and he was quick to knock out the 55,000 spectators at the Montjuïc Olympic stadium (89th).

For the third time in its history (after 2020 and 2021), Paris Saint-Germain will compete in the semi-finals of the Champions League. He already knows his opponent and even very well since he will meet Borussia Dortmund. Also the author of a comeback on Tuesday evening (4-2 against Atlético de Madrid, after the 1-2 defeat in the first leg), the German club has already crossed paths with the Parisians this season in the group stage of this same Champions League (2-0 victory at Parc des Princes, 1-1 in Germany).