PARIS Saint-Germain’s emphatic victory over Barcelona keeps the French club’s dream of ending the Kylian Mbappe era alive by lifting the Champions League trophy at Wembley in June.
Their hopes of going all the way in Europe’s elite club competition for the first time were on the line after their 3-2 home defeat to Barca in the first leg of their quarter-final last week.
They had never won a Champions League knockout match after losing the first leg at home, and their chances of doing so this time looked slim after conceding the first goal on the night.
Another disappointing exit looms for the Qatari club who had been eliminated at the round of 16 in five of the previous seven seasons.
But they seized the opportunity presented to them in Catalonia after Ronald Araujo’s red card left Barcelona to play for over an hour with 10 men, allowing Luis Enrique’s team to go on and win 4- 1 in the evening and 6-4 in total.
PSG were rampant with the extra player, as Ousmane Dembele stood out again against his former team by scoring the equalizer on the night and winning a penalty which Kylian Mbappe converted to give PSG the lead in the draw.
Between the two, the exceptional Vitinha – who had already scored in the first leg – scored with a superb goal from outside the box, and Mbappé made sure of the victory late on to spark wild celebrations in the contingent outside Montjuic.
“This is a magnificent and historic moment for the club. It’s not easy to win here, but I was confident. I told the coach that we were going to win and qualify,” PSG president Nasser al-Khelaïfi proudly declared to Canal Plus.
The final scoreline was identical to their last visit to Barcelona in February 2021, when Mbappe scored a hat-trick in the first leg of the round of 16 match which they ultimately won 5-2 on aggregate.
But the manner in which this victory finally exorcised the ghost of their humiliating collapse at Barcelona in 2017, when they won 4-0 at home in the first leg only to lose 6-1 in the second leg in a stunning implosion.
Seven years ago, Barcelona entered the 88th minute of the second leg needing to score three times and they did so as they should.
This time it was PSG who produced the turnaround, and they now have a glorious opportunity to reach a second Champions League final in five seasons.
“It means a lot,” Dembele told Canal Plus. “We’re keeping our fingers crossed that we can make it to Wembley.”
PSG responded to the 2017 defeat by signing Neymar and Mbappe a few months later for the two biggest transfer fees in football history.
Neymar left for Saudi Arabia last year and Mbappé recently informed the French champions that he intended to leave when his contract expired at the end of this campaign, with Real Madrid almost certainly his next destination.
The closest PSG came to lifting the Champions League trophy with Mbappe came in the 2020 final defeat to Bayern Munich, behind closed doors in Lisbon during the pandemic.
It would be a real waste for them if they couldn’t win it with such generational talent in their ranks.
Questions have been asked about Mbappé’s recent performances, but his goals on Tuesday took him to 41 for the season in all competitions.
He is just two goals away from a half-century in the Champions League and is the competition’s top scorer this season with eight.
Four of them came in two away games in the knockout stage, and anything is possible for PSG when Mbappé is fit.
He also scored in the group stage against Borussia Dortmund, who will be PSG’s opponent in the semi-finals.
Luis Enrique’s side – who could win the Ligue 1 title by then – must be considered strong favorites to defeat the side currently fifth in the Bundesliga.
If they do that, they will be just one game at Wembley away from the glory they have sought for so long.
PARIS Saint-Germain’s emphatic victory over Barcelona keeps the French club’s dream of ending the Kylian Mbappe era alive by lifting the Champions League trophy at Wembley in June.
Their hopes of going all the way in Europe’s elite club competition for the first time were on the line after their 3-2 home defeat to Barca in the first leg of their quarter-final last week.
They had never won a Champions League knockout match after losing the first leg at home, and their chances of doing so this time looked slim after conceding the first goal on the night.
Another disappointing exit looms for the Qatari club who had been eliminated at the round of 16 in five of the previous seven seasons.
But they seized the opportunity presented to them in Catalonia after Ronald Araujo’s red card left Barcelona to play for over an hour with 10 men, allowing Luis Enrique’s team to go on and win 4- 1 in the evening and 6-4 in total.
PSG were rampant with the extra player, as Ousmane Dembele stood out again against his former team by scoring the equalizer on the night and winning a penalty which Kylian Mbappe converted to give PSG the lead in the draw.
Between the two, the exceptional Vitinha – who had already scored in the first leg – scored with a superb goal from outside the box, and Mbappé made sure of the victory late on to spark wild celebrations in the contingent outside Montjuic.
“This is a magnificent and historic moment for the club. It’s not easy to win here, but I was confident. I told the coach that we were going to win and qualify,” PSG president Nasser al-Khelaïfi proudly declared to Canal Plus.
The final scoreline was identical to their last visit to Barcelona in February 2021, when Mbappe scored a hat-trick in the first leg of the round of 16 match which they ultimately won 5-2 on aggregate.
But the manner in which this victory finally exorcised the ghost of their humiliating collapse at Barcelona in 2017, when they won 4-0 at home in the first leg only to lose 6-1 in the second leg in a stunning implosion.
Seven years ago, Barcelona entered the 88th minute of the second leg needing to score three times and they did so as they should.
This time it was PSG who produced the turnaround, and they now have a glorious opportunity to reach a second Champions League final in five seasons.
“It means a lot,” Dembele told Canal Plus. “We’re keeping our fingers crossed that we can make it to Wembley.”
PSG responded to the 2017 defeat by signing Neymar and Mbappe a few months later for the two biggest transfer fees in football history.
Neymar left for Saudi Arabia last year and Mbappé recently informed the French champions that he intended to leave when his contract expired at the end of this campaign, with Real Madrid almost certainly his next destination.
The closest PSG came to lifting the Champions League trophy with Mbappe came in the 2020 final defeat to Bayern Munich, behind closed doors in Lisbon during the pandemic.
It would be a real waste for them if they couldn’t win it with such generational talent in their ranks.
Questions have been asked about Mbappé’s recent performances, but his goals on Tuesday took him to 41 for the season in all competitions.
He is just two goals away from a half-century in the Champions League and is the competition’s top scorer this season with eight.
Four of them came in two away games in the knockout stage, and anything is possible for PSG when Mbappé is fit.
He also scored in the group stage against Borussia Dortmund, who will be PSG’s opponent in the semi-finals.
Luis Enrique’s side – who could win the Ligue 1 title by then – must be considered strong favorites to defeat the side currently fifth in the Bundesliga.
If they do that, they will be just one game at Wembley away from the glory they have sought for so long.