Barcelona Out of Champions League – PSG Advances with 4-1 Win: Dembélé, Mbappé Shine

Paris Saint-Germain is in Champions League– Semifinals! Against that FC Barcelona Paris won 4:1 (1:1) after a wild game. Despite the 2: 3 defeat in the first leg – in the French capital – PSG won the direct match by a two-goal difference.

Raphinha’s early 1-0 lead (12th) was very special: it was the Catalans’ 600th Champions League goal. After some fantastic preparation work from 16-year-old Lamine Yamal, Raphinha scored his third top-class goal; the Brazilian had already scored a brace in the first leg. A piece of club history, as his teammate Neymar had recently achieved such a feat – also against Paris (2014/15).

In the 29th minute, the team of the outgoing coach Xavi had to deal with the first real stoppage. Former Bayern flirt Ronald Araújo was sent off with a red card after a critical tackle on Bradley Barcola and then refused to leave the pitch.

Yamal was the victim of the affair, Barça’s jewel was replaced (34th) and Xavi brought in a new central defender, Inigo Martinez.

Referee István Kovács had initially awarded a penalty following Araújo’s emergency stoppage, but the first contact occurred outside the box. As a result, the Romanian reversed his original decision and awarded a free kick. Ousmane Dembélé almost missed out.

A few minutes later, Dembélé was in focus again. Against the previous club he was blown almost every time he touched the ball. But the Frenchman remained unstoppable, scored a 1-1 goal (40th minute) after Barcola’s preparatory work and thus started the conversion.

A little later, Vitinha increased the score to 2-1 (54′), Kylian Mbappé converted a penalty to make it 3-1 (61′) and finally made everything clear with his goal to make it 4- 1 (89′).

Meanwhile, Xavi expressed his displeasure at the side. The angry Barca coach broke an advertising board and then saw his red card (56th). “I told the referee it was very bad. “It was a disaster,” the coach said angrily afterwards.

To make matters worse, goalkeeper coach José de la Fuente was sent to the stands by Kovács after he loudly demanded a penalty (65′).

Barca still have to wait for their first semi-final appearance since 2019, while Ilkay Gündogan and Marc-Andre ter Stegen’s dream of winning the trophy was also dashed. The disappointment was accordingly very good: Jewel Yamal, for example, dragged himself into the locker room after the final whistle, completely disappointed and fighting back tears.

On the other hand, Dembélé declared after the match that they had never lost faith: “We knew we would score a goal and go on. The coach’s tactics were perfect and everyone believed in us.”

Barca is a fantastic club. “I like Barcelona and I understand the whistles. That’s life,” said the old Catalan.

By catching up, PSG avenged their exit in the round of 16 in 2017. At that time, Barcelona had turned a 0-4 loss in Paris into a real 6-1.

The super-rich Parisian club have never managed to win the Champions League despite spending millions on Lionel Messi and long-lost Mbappé, who left in the summer.

PSG will face Borussia Dortmund in the semi-finals. The first leg will be held on April 30 at Signal Iduna Park, the return leg on May 7 at Parc des Princes.