PARIS, (Reuters) – Paris St Germain buried the spirits of their disastrous departure in 2017 as they drew 1-1 at home with Barcelona yesterday to complete an aggregate 5-2 victory that sent them to the final of the Champions League last eight.
Four years after Barca claimed a memorable 6-1 victory to overturn a 4-0 first leg deficit in the last 16, PSG lacked inspiration but their 4-1 advantage from the first match in Spain was sufficient this time .
Kylian Mbappe, who scored a hat-trick at Camp Nou, opened the scoring with a penalty kick against the run of the play before Lionel Messi leveled with a great long-range goal, but Argentina saved Keylor Navas a penalty for a half-time stroke . The French champions were on the back foot in the second half as Barca piled on the pressure but Barca left the competition before the semi-finals for the second year running. Barca’s departure ensured this will be the first time since 2005 that Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo will not be in the final eight of the Champions League after Juventus were knocked out in the last 16, on Tuesday.
“We suffered a lot in the first half, and psychologically it was a test for us. I concluded that the past is something that has been talked about a lot here, ”said PSG coach Mauricio Pochettino.
“We were better in the second half, we were more competitive.”
Barca coach Ronald Koeman tried to stay unbeaten.
“We leave these Champions League in a very different way to how we did last season. In this game, we hit our level and that’s the way we have to follow it, ”said Koeman, referring to the team’s aggregate loss of 8-2 in the last eight of Bayern Munich last year. PSG, without injuring Neymar forward, looked nothing like the team that reached last year’s final or hammered Barcelona three weeks ago, but they kept their excitement at the back.
Barcelona stamped their authority early, finding space for Ousmane Dembele, but the Frenchman was twice denied by Navas and skied an effort over the crossbar in the opening 20 minutes.
Sergino Dest went close to Barca with a powerful angle shot that Navas leaned over to his left post and Dembele broke down the left flank but his cross avoided Messi slipping.
PSG, however, went ahead on 31 minutes as Mbappe converted a penalty awarded following a VAR review after Clement Lenglet appeared to step on Mauro Icardi’s heel.
Six minutes later, Messi released a 25 meter missile and flew to the top corner to equalize in style with his 120th goal in the Champions League.
Argentina had a chance to put the visitors ahead just before the break when Barca won a penalty kick after Layvin Kurzawa’s foul on Antoine Griezmann, but Navas challenged Argentina’s penalty on the bar and off.
Barca still dominated PSG in the second half and took a desperate tackle from Marquinhos to prevent Messi from scoring from point-blank before Navas cleared Sergio Busquets’ header.
Barcelona gradually ran out of steam, however, and now have to turn to their bid to win the La Liga title, where they trail leaders Atletico Madrid by six points.