Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappé scored twice in the second half to help his side secure a 4-1 victory over 10-man Barcelona in the second leg of the Champions League quarter-final second leg to complete a 6-game aggregate win -4 Tuesday.
PSG took advantage of a first-half red card against Barcelona defender Ronald Araújo to keep their trophy hopes alive in what is expected to be Mbappé’s final season in Paris.
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They will next face Borussia Dortmund, who they faced in the group stage, after the Germans’ victory over Atletico Madrid.
Having failed to advance past the round of 16 in the last two seasons and being held on the ropes by a Barca side who won the first leg 3-2, PSG put in a dogged performance to make the most of the mistakes of the home team and transform. the tie around.
Coach Luis Enrique made three changes since the defeat in Paris. Bringing in Bradley Barcola up front was crucial as the French winger was a constant threat to Barca’s defense, running down the left channel as PSG dominated from the start.
But Barcelona looked comfortable sitting back and counterattacking, with Raphinha giving them the lead in the 12th minute.
Teenager Lamine Yamal took a long pass in his stride before racing past Nuno Mendes down the right channel and putting the ball on a plate for the Brazilian to score the opener.
Barça then wasted an opportunity to extend their lead when Robert Lewandowski missed from close range and were down to 10 just before the half-hour mark after the last man, Ronald Araújo, was shown a red card for a foul on Barcola just outside the penalty area.
The Uruguayan defender and his Barça teammates argued with the referee, claiming that it was a shoulder charge and that Pau Cubarsí was nearby and ready to challenge Barcola, but it was in vain and Araujo finally left the field.
Former Barcelona striker Ousmane Dembélé placed the resulting free-kick just wide but didn’t miss the target nine minutes later, firing for the visitors in the 40th to equalize on the night after a another great game from Barcola.
PSG were back on top in the second half and piled on the pressure until Vitinha finally managed to put the visitors ahead after 54 minutes.
Barcelona coach Xavi Hernández was sent off for complaining to officials in the 56th minute.
Dembele played a short corner to Achraf Hakimi, who passed to Vitinha just outside the box, and the Portuguese midfielder had all the time in the world to place a shot just inside the post right of Marc-André ter Stegen.
PSG kept up the pressure and in the 61st minute Barça full-back João Cancelo made a careless sliding tackle to beat Dembele and concede a penalty which Mbappé fired into the top corner to make it 3-1 as PSG took the lead in the draw.
As Barca tried to find a goal to extend the match, French striker Mbappé took advantage of a counter-attack to score from close range and earn a place in the semi-finals.
“Everyone believed in it. We didn’t give up,” Dembélé told Canal+. “We knew we were going to score goals. It was great work from the whole team. The coach’s tactics were perfect. We made a great effort after conceding the first goal.
“Qualifying for the semi-final is a big deal. We’re crossing our fingers to reach the final. We’ll have to recover well.”
Information from Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report.