0
0
Paris Saint-Germain have reached their first Champions League semi-final in three years.
Kylian Mbappe scored twice as Paris St-Germain smashed Barcelona, overcoming a first-leg deficit and reaching the Champions League semi-finals.
PSG trailed 3-2 after the first leg in France, but they advanced to the final four for the first time since 2021 following a tumultuous match in Spain.
Luis Enrique’s team will face Borussia Dortmund in the semi-finals, after defeating Atletico Madrid 5-4 on aggregate in a thrilling match in Germany.
Paris Saint-Germain thrashed 10 Men Barcelona in an away match
The visitors started the brighter of the two at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys, the temporary home of five-time champions Barcelona.
However, it was the Catalans who struck first, with Lamine Yamal driving down the right side, beating Nuno Mendes and clipping across for Raphinha to score from close range.
At that time, PSG faced a formidable task: they needed to score two goals only to tie the score on aggregate, and the crowd was firmly against them.
However, things began to unravel when Barcelona defender Ronald Araujo received a straight red card for clipping Bradley Barcola just outside the box, depriving a clean scoring opportunity.
Araujo appeared to claim that his centre-back partner Pau Cubarsi was covering, implying that he was not the final man, but the video assistant referee upheld the referee’s on-field ruling, forcing Barcelona to play 60 minutes with 10 men.
Ousmane Dembele took advantage of Barcola’s whipped ball over the six-yard box, firing into the roof of the net against his previous team.
Vitinha was allowed plenty of room on the edge of the Barcelona box and scored a wonderful drive into the bottom corner nine minutes after halftime to make it 2-1 on the night and 4-4 on aggregate.
PSG’s miraculous recovery continued when Joao Cancelo pulled down Dembele in the box, and Mbappe converted the penalty kick to put his team ahead.
After being kept quiet for most of the two games, Mbappe came up and scored in the 89th minute to cap off two thrilling quarter-final encounters.
The opening legs of the semi-finals will be played on consecutive evenings, April 30 and May 1, with the second matches taking place on May 7 and 8.
Paris Saint-Germain made a great comeback as Barcelona collapsed
Since being acquired by Qatar Sports Investments in 2011, PSG has won nine Ligue 1 titles but has failed to meet the ownership’s primary goal of winning the Champions League.
They reached the final in 2020 but lost to Bayern Munich, and have since advanced to the semi-finals once and been eliminated in the round of 16 twice.
Following Raphinha’s strike, it appeared that a familiar story would unfold once more.
And, with Mbappe poised to join Real Madrid this summer, hopes for a fantasy goodbye in which the France striker led them to European triumph faded.
However, once Araujo was sent off, the tide swung, and PSG dominated as Barcelona’s chances of reaching their first semi-final in five years faded.
Barcelona manager Xavi was sent off following Vitinha’s goal as referee Istvan Kovacs gave out cards at random in a frantic encounter, with another member of Barca’s backroom staff also receiving a red card.
PSG dominated the second half and had chances to extend their lead, as Dembele volleyed inches wide of the far post and Fabian Ruiz’s left-footed effort spun wide.
Luis Enrique stated prior to the match that he was certain his team could turn things around, and they capitalised well on what turned out to be a bad night for Barcelona, with fans in the stands obviously furious at the squandered opportunity.
