A significant part of the world’s football fans waited with bated breath for the Barcelona-Paris Saint-Germain match on Tuesday’s game day of the Champions League quarter-finals, which continued with the Catalans leading 3-2. The second 90 minutes of the other duel, the match between Dortmund and Atlético Madrid, started with Spain leading 2-1.
Barcelona led, then got into trouble
As expected, former Barcelona player Ousmane Dembele, who joined the Parisians in the summer of 2023, received a whistle concert at the Olympic Stadium. In the 12th minute, the audience was no longer concerned with him, but with the celebration of the home players, after Lamine Yamal scored twice in Paris Raphinha the ball bounced from his left foot into the short bottom. In Barcelona, the score changed to 1-0, but the home team led 4-2 on aggregate!
In the 20th minute, the Catalan team could have further increased its advantage, with a great ball from Raphinha, it turned towards the goal after an adjustment, and then shot from 11 meters – it was not much wrong. In the 28th minute Kylian Mbappé and PSG were able to book their first chance, but everything changed after that: the Barcelona defender Ronald Araujo, who was the last man to foul his defender, received a red card from the Hungarian referee of Transylvania, István Kovács!
Araujo could only watch from the stands as PSG equalized in the 40th minute, after Dembelé (who else?!) shot from the corner of the five to the short top. At the break, the score of the day was 1-1, but Barcelona was still able to advance with a 4-3 aggregate. Meanwhile, Dortmund took a two-goal advantage in Germany to lead 3-2 in the duel against Atlético.
Barcelona’s coaching staff has also dwindled
After the turn, Achraf Hakimi threatened PSG for the first time, he reached for him, but he saved for a corner. In the 52nd minute, the Barcelona goalkeeper did not have to intervene when Fabián Ruiz missed a shot from close range – the Parisian guard, which was attacking with ten field players, was clearly in the upper hand. This was achieved in the 54th minute, as the Portuguese Vitinha’s goal gave Paris Saint-Germain a 2-1 lead, 4-4 in the BL quarter-finals. The Barcelona coach, Xavier Hernández, couldn’t take it any longer, and in anger he kicked up a spongy partition between the two benches – he too received a red card from István Kovács!
Here is Xavi’s private number:
If all this wasn’t enough, in the 59th minute, PSG received a penalty for tripping Dembelé. Mbappé also converted the penalty in the 61st minute, increasing the French’s lead to 3-1 and making it 5-4 on aggregate.
István Kovács did not spare Barcelona
István Kovács picked up the red card again in the 65th minute, sending another staff member off the Barcelona bench. After that, there were more or less opportunities for the hosts, but this match did not have another twist, in fact: at the end of a counterattack, Mbappé scored his second goal and his team’s fourth, making the final score 4-1. PSG reached the semi-finals with a total score of 6-4, and will be among the top four for the fourth time in its history.
and PSG reversed by winning in Barcelona. Photo: NurPhoto via AFP
Dortmund also came from behind to win the continuation, defeating Atlético 4-2 as hosts, thus saying goodbye to their rival with a score of 5-4. Tuesday was not the day of the Spanish teams in the Champions League, which continues on Wednesday with the return matches between Bayern Munich and Arsenal and Manchester City and Real Madrid.
