♦ PSG booked their place in the Champions League semi-finals with a superb win
♦ Barcelona imploded to lose 4-1 on the night, falling 6-4 to PSG on aggregate
♦ Darwin Nunez is a handful, but not lethal. Jurgen Klopp is making excuses for him – Listen to the It’s All Kicking Off podcast
Barcelona saw red three times and Kylian Mbappe scored twice as Paris Saint Germain knocked the Spanish giants out of the Champions League.
Barcelona had to play with ten men for an hour after defender Ronald Araujo was sent off in the first half. And Romanian referee Istvan Kovacs also showed red cards to Xavi and his goalkeeping coach Jose Ramon De la Fuente as the French team won 4-1 on the night and 6-4 on aggregate.
Araujo left the field indicating that his team had been robbed. And it was with the same complaint that Xavi was sent from his technical area.
The big calls went against them and PSG took advantage with Ousmane Dembele superb against his former club and Mbappe lethal when he had to be.
Barcelona made it 1-0 on the night on 12 minutes with a goal scored by Raphinha but made by Lamine Yamal.
Kylian Mbappe’s double completed PSG’s stunning comeback against Barcelona on Tuesday
The French star kept his nerve from the penalty spot to put his side 5-4 ahead on aggregate
Mbappe netted his second on the night in stoppage time to fire PSG into the semi-finals
Raphinha fired the Spanish giants two ahead on aggregate with the first goal on the night
But Ronald Araujo’s red card midway through the first half turned the second leg on its head
Araujo played a long crossfield pass to him and for the first time in the game the teenager took on Nuno Mendes. The PSG left-back had no chance as Yamal dropped a shoulder and accelerated past him to the byline from where he pulled the back for Raphinha to covert past Gianluigi Donnarumma at the near post.
It was the perfect start for Barcelona but the complexion of the game changed dramatically on the half hour when Araujo was adjudged to have brought down Bradley Barcola just before he burst into the area.
Kovacs sent him off and it was a win-win for PSG because Xavi immediately substituted Yamal so he could bring on Iñigo Martinez.
Five minutes before the break PSG were level on the night. Barcola crossed from the left. It flashed past Kylian Mbappe but Ousmane Dembele arrived down the right to smash it into the roof of the net.
It was now 4-3 and Dembele almost levelled on aggregate but volleyed just wide on half time. The more hostile the home crowd against the former Barcelona forward the more he seemed to be up for the game.
PSG levelled on aggregate on 54 minutes when Vitinha’s shot fizzed through a crowd of players from the edge of the area and past Ter Stegen. The next decision that went against Barcelona provoked Xavi to kick a hoarding and he was shown the red card.
That meant he wasn’t in his technical area to see Mbappe make it 4-5 on aggregate from the penalty spot after Joao Cancelo had chopped down Dembele. De la Fuente was the next to be sent off before the villain of the first leg for PSG Gianluigi Donnarumma became PSG’s hero of the second saving from Lewandowski.
That chance seemed to be the catalyst for Barcelona to find their belief once more. The home supporters chanted: ‘yes, we can’ just as they had done back in 2017 when they won 6-1 to go through, and for all that Donnarumma had made a big save he still looked a liability from crosses.
PSG were close but panicking and one loss of possession gifted Lewandowski with another chance to equalise the tie but Marquinhos slid-in and sent the ball out for a corner.
Ex-Barcelona star Ousmane Dembele levelled the score for PSG on the night with a firm strike
Vitinha scored a sensational strike from long distance to put PSG level on aggregate at 4-4
Moments later, Xavi was sent off by the referee for furiously reacting in the technical area
A group of Barcelona fans accidentally threw bottles at their own team’s bus ahead of kick-off
Raphinha almost scored directly from that corner but Donnarumma tipped it over for another corner and when that was cleared PSG broke to put the tie beyond doubt.
Ter Stegen saved brilliantly twice but when the ball came back out to Mbappe he got his second goal of the night and deliver the final fatal blow to Barcelona’s Champions League aspiration. For PSG the dream of a first European Cup survives into a semi-final against Borussia Dortmund.