PSG went into the encounter trailing 3-2 after the first leg in France, but turned the game around and went through on 6-4 aggregate score line
By Kehinde Okeowo
Paris St-Germain (PSG) on Tuesday night defeated Barcelona at their temporary home – the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys, turning around a first-leg deficit and reaching this year’s UEFA Champions League semi-finals.
The visitors went into the encounter trailing 3-2 after the first leg in France, but turned the game around and went through on 6-4 aggregate score line
PSG started the brighter of the two sides, but it was Barcelona who opened the scoring after Lamine Yamal drove down the right-hand side, beating Nuno Mendes and clipping over for Raphinha to score from close range.
But the game turned when Barca defender, Ronald Araujo was given the matching order by the referee for denying Bradley Barcola a clear goalscoring opportunity.
The French giants then capitalized on their numerical advantage in the 40th minute as Ousmane Dembele levelled the tie by firing into the roof of the net from Barcola’s whipped ball across the six-yard box.
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Vitinha after the break gave Luis Enrique’s side the lead for the first time in the game after he was given acres of space on the edge of the Barcelona box to hit a sweet strike into the bottom corner to make it 2-1 on the night and 4-4 on aggregate.
It then went from bad to worse for the host, when Joao Cancelo brought down Dembele in the box and Mbappe stepped forward to convert the spot-kick.
The French side then made sure the tie was safe when Mbappe got his brace in the 89th minute.
With the 4-1 win, PSG progressed to the semi-finals on 6-4 aggregate and will now face Borussia Dortmund who beat Atletico Madrid 5-4 on aggregate in a another thrilling quarter finals encounter in Germany.
