Barcelona’s journey in this season’s Champions League has come to an end at the quarter-final stage thanks to a painful 4-1 defeat against Paris Saint-Germain in Tuesday’s second leg at the Montjuïc Olympic Stadium. Barça started the game with a strong team performance and took the lead early on, but a controversial red card after 30 minutes completely changed the game and the tie, and a 10-man Barça side fought hard but couldn’t hold off the visitors as PSG got the goals needed to complete the comeback and advance to the semi-finals.
FIRST HALF
Barça began the second leg with a very similar strategy to last week: the Catalans gave PSG the ball and looked to avoid conceding an early goal, defend deep inside their half with a well-organized structure.
The plan worked as PSG had all of the possession but did nothing with it, and to make things even better Barça took the lead on their very first attack: Lamine Yamal received the ball on the right wing, dribbled past Nuno Mendes with ease and found Raphinha in the six-yard box for a tap-in to put the home team in front.
The home team looked very comfortable in the minutes following the opener, staying organized at the back and looking to control the midfield and get the ball to the forward players in good positions. PSG offered very little threat until a shot by Kylian Mbappé that required a world-class save from Marc-André ter Stegen, but Barça still looked in pretty good shape.
Then at the half-hour mark everything changed: a mistake in midfield led to a pass that released Bradley Barcola through on goal, and Ronald Araujo fouled the French forward just outside the box. The referee deemed it as a denial of a goalscoring opportunity and showed Araujo a straight red card, and Barça were suddenly down to 10 men with a full hour still to play.
PSG were offered a way back in the tie and took full advantage, applying real pressure against a vulnerable Barça defense. Xavi Hernández took off Yamal and replaced him with Iñigo Martínez to reshape the back four, which meant the Blaugrana were a lot less threatening going forward and were fully committed to defending their lead.
But with five minutes to go in the period PSG scored the equalizer: Vitinha found Barcola alone on the left wing and his cross found Ousmane Dembélé at the far post, and the former Barça man smashed it home to make it 1-1. Dembélé nearly scored again just seconds later with a volley that went just wide, and PSG looked ready to take the lead at any moment.
The halftime whistle came to give Barça 15 minutes of relief and a chance to design a second half plan to avoid conceding again, but PSG had all of the momentum and knew they had 45 minutes against 10 men to find the goals needed to turn the tie around. Would the visitors complete the comeback or were Barça about to create yet another heroic Champions League moment against PSG?
SECOND HALF
The second half started as expected, with PSG owning the ball and Barça parking the bus looking for an early goal. Achraf Hakimi forced a good save from Ter Stegen and Fabián Ruiz missed an easy chance after a pass from Mbappé in the first five minutes, and PSG’s goal seemed just a matter of time.
And indeed it was: the visitors took a short corner and the ball came to Vitinha at the edge of the box, and the Portuguese midfielder was allowed plenty of time and space to fire a rocket that found the bottom corner and gave the visitors the lead.
Barça almost responded immediately with a shot from Ilkay Gündogan that hit the post, but the Catalans were dealt a potential knockout blow at the hour mark: João Cancelo fouled Dembélé inside the box, and Mbappé scored the penalty to give PSG a two-goal lead that was enough to send them through.
Xavi Hernández was sent off for dissent shortly before the third goal, so his brother Óscar took charge and sent on Ferran Torres as Barça had a half-hour to find at least one goal to get back in the tie. Robert Lewandowski forced Gianluigi Donnarumma into a very good save, and the Catalans had not yet given up as we reached the final 15 minutes.
Xavi and Óscar made one last roll of the dice with two attacking changes that brought João Félix and Fermín López into the fold and moved Raphinha to left-back, and Barça threw caution to the wind looking for a late miracle.
That miracle never happened, and PSG managed to seal the deal at the death: the visitors went on a devastating counter-attack from a Barça corner, and after two monster saves by Ter Stegen the ball fell to Mbappé who found the net for the second time and secured qualification for the Parisians.
The final whistle came to end yet another tragic night in Europe for Barça, but this one doesn’t even begin to compare to Rome, Anfield or Bayern. Barça were the better team for almost all of the first 120 minutes of the tie and probably would have qualified if not for the Araujo red card that changed everything. Barça fought as hard and for as long as they could, but PSG’s talent eventually took over.
This one hurts. A lot. But I’m very, very proud of this team.
Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsí, Cancelo (Félix 82’); Pedri (Ferran 62’), De Jong (Fermín 82’); Yamal (Iñigo 34’), Gündogan, Raphinha; Lewandowski
Goal: Raphinha (12’)
Red Card: Araujo (29’)
PSG: Donnarumma; Hakimi, Marquinhos, Hernández, Mendes; Zaïre-Emery (Ugarte 80’), Vitinha, Fabián (Asensio 77’); Dembélé (Muani 88’), Mbappé, Barcola (Lee 77’)
Goals: Dembélé (40’), Vitinha (54’), Mbappé (pen 61’, 89’)
