On Tuesday night, the promised answer is not only to the two questions, whether Barcelona or PSG, or Borussia Dortmund or Atlético Madrid will reach the top four in the BL. Also, whether the Germans still have any hope of increasing from four to five teams for their teams entering the Champions League in the year of transformation – this definitely required the success of BVB – and whether there will be a Spanish finalist this season. Because if Barca and Atléti succeed, one of them from this branch will certainly reach the final…
The Catalans’ away game in Paris brought a particularly twisty clash, and the sides were betting, the minimal advantage obtained away (3-2) does not mean much. On the other hand, the statisticians put it next to the second leg: the garnet-red-blues have not lost a single back-and-forth duel in the BL after their away success. The current one could have been their twelfth such promotion out of twelve.
From the 11th minute onward, PSG had to deal not only with this statistical indicator, but also with the two-goal deficit in the match. After Lamine Yamal’s run from the right Raphinha hit the first goal of the match from four meters into the net (1–0). The Brazilian attacker scored his third goal in this BL season, and also his third in this match.
It took PSG until the 20th minute to shake off the blow, the first really serious sign of life was Kylian Mbappé’s shot from 7 meters, which Marc-André ter Stegen saved brilliantly. Not long after, Mbappé threatened again, this time Jules Koundé cleared from the goal line. However, the game took a really serious turn in the 29th minute: referee István Kovács showed the red card to Ronald Araújo, who was speeding up on the left wing, for tackling Bradley Barcola…
With a man deficit, Xavi made the main sacrifice, he called off Yamal, the goal assister, to send Inigo Martínez from the bench to Araújo’s position. The relatively balanced possession of the ball before the exhibition (PSG led by 52 percent) immediately started to tilt in the direction of the French.
Barcelona couldn’t stand the man disadvantage for ten minutes, after Barcola’s cross from the left, the Catalans went to Paris – because of this, they were booed and whistled by the audience – Osmane Dembele arrived empty on the long side and bombed defenselessly into the short top from eight meters (1–1). Not only his, but also that of Luis Enrique, who was sitting on PSG’s bench and previously won the Champions League with Barcelona, was not restrained.
Even after the turn, Barcelona couldn’t organize their lines, Ter Stegen also reached for the ball in an uncertain manner when Asraf Hakimi crossed the ball. The German goalkeeper still got away with this, in the 54th minute Vitinha no more shooting through. The ball hit the bottom right (1–2). To add to the trouble, Xavi also showed himself on the bench, while Ilkay Gündogan was furious about his shot hitting the post.
In the 61st minute, PSG already had an overall advantage. Joao Cancelo’s bold slide against Dembélé was inaccurate – even though the Frenchman was pulling out from inside the penalty area – so it could have come Mbappé shoot a penalty. And he bombed into the upper right corner from the penalty spot (1–3).
We can’t say that Barcelona collapsed, but the team lacked breakthrough power. Araujo’s exhibition proved to be seriously irresponsible from this point of view as well. On the way, goalkeeper coach José de la Fuente also dismissed himself from the Catalan bench. But despite the embers, the attacking game of the Catalans could not ignite another great feat. Raphinha tried as hard as he could on the right wing, created two chances for himself, but did not force Gianluigi Donnarumma to do a feat with either of them.
In the 84th minute, another Raphinha free kick could have brought back the hopes of the garnet red-blues, but Donnarumma moved in vain, Lewandowski slipped near the goal. Moreover, it turned out later that if a goal had been scored, it would not have been worth it, as the Polish striker started offside.
Mbappé in the penultimate minute of regular time, he gave the home team the coup de grace: at the end of a counterattack, he first shot at Ter Stegen, and then the German goalkeeper saved Marco Asensio’s shot with a great feat, but his defenders did not have enough time to settle the lines, the next rebound (with the help of Koundé) returned to the center of the French world champion, who this time made no mistakes (1–4)…
So Barca’s crazy series of away victories has ended – but at the same time, PSG’s nonsense series has ended, as the French team made it to the eighth start for the first time from a straight-elimination duel in the BL, only to lose the first leg at home. However, success away from home against PSG is usually a good sign, that year Videoton’s success in the UEFA Cup also came to Fehérvár, and since then it has brought Juventus, Milan, Manchester City, and even once even Barcelona a march to at least the finals.
BVB’s 11-year curse was broken in a crazy match
In Dortmund, the sides got off to a lightning start, César Azpilicueta had to cut the ball in front of the goal line in the third minute – after Marcel Sabitzer’s shot. In response, Álvaro Morata fired a similar volley a minute and a half later, after running down Sabitzer on the right side, from eight meters past the left post. The continuation was quieter, but BVB’s dominance on the field was clear. Julian Brandt he showed himself to be particularly active, he took a role in almost every action, but he could not excel in the endings instead of his peers.
Or maybe yes? Because in the 34th minute, a finish came to the blond conductor inside the penalty area, and he shot into the net from a slightly sharp angle, with the effective contribution of Jan Oblak (1–0). Let’s face it, the Slovenian star goalkeeper scored a delicious goal – and then we’re still delicious. But this does not detract from Brandt’s merits in the match.
Before the break, the German team also scored their second goal, Ian Maatsen broke into the penalty area from the left, and after a great solo, shot the bottom left (2–0). With this, the team from the Ruhr region was already in a better position overall. Seeing the sudden difference between the two teams – not so much in terms of the number of goals as in the image of the game – suddenly arose the biggest defeat in the Champions League in the Diego Simeone era, which Atlético suffered in Dortmund six years ago (4-0). . In any case, the Spaniards could not feel in the saddle before the trip, after all, they last won in this stadium in 1996. Coincidentally, Simeone was still a player of the “mattresses” in his prime at that time.
Atléti chased away this nightmare in moments after the turn. More precisely, making his 500th match in a Dortmund shirt memorable with an own goal Mats Hummels. The routine German defender tried to block Mario Hermoso’s header from the right with his foot, but the bouncing ball tricked Gregor Kobel and trickled into the bottom left corner. (2–1). The match was diverted into a completely new direction than we would have thought based on the pace of the first innings. This time, the guests in blue and white shirts controlled the game, creating more and more opportunities, until after a small firework and two great Kobel saves, the third rebound was bombed under the bar by Ángel Correa (2–2).
But the twists and turns were not over yet: Brandt delivered a great pass to Sabitzer, who was speeding up on the left wing, and the latter’s pass Niclas Füllkrug he nodded into the goal so that the ball went over the goal line from the crossbar and the tip of the left post (3–2). Two minutes later, BVB was on the move again: Sabitzer Oblak could only catch his sensational shot, but not push it from the bottom left (4–2).
In the 81st minute, Füllkrug could have ended all questions about advancing, but Oblak stood in his way with a brilliant save. But all in all, it was no longer a division, it was not a multiplication, Atléti tried hard in the final game, but could not score another goal either, so they said goodbye in the quarter-finals.
After 11 years, Borussia once again reached the top four in the Champions League field.
With this, there is hope that there will be five Germans on the BL main table in the next call. As for the dreams of the Spanish teams in the finals… on Wednesday, Real Madrid can save the honor of the Iberians. Carlo Ancelotti’s boys will not have an easy mission against Manchester City – away.
In the meantime, let’s savor it: in 2024, one of the Dortmund-PSG duo will play in the Champions League final.
SOCCER, CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
QUARTER FINAL, RETURN CUT, TUESDAY PROGRAM
FC Barcelona (spain)–Paris Saint-Germain (francia) 1–4 (Raphinha 12th, or Dembélé 39th, Vitinha 54th, Mbappé 61st, 89th – the first of the 11)
Passed on: 6-4 on aggregate for PSG.
Borussia Dortmund (Germany)–Atlético Madrid (Spain) 4–2 (Brandt 34., Maatsen 39., Füllkrug 71., Sabitzer 74., and Hummels 48. – own goal, Á. Correa 64.)
Passed on: Borussia with a total of 5-4.
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