Raphinha scored twice but it was Andreas Christensen, on his 28th birthday, who headed the decisive goal for Xavi Hernández’s men in Paris.
Barcelona will take a 3-2 lead back to Spain for the second leg of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final tie with Paris after a rollercoaster first meeting in the French capital.
Match in brief: Barça edge epic opener
Kang-in Lee and Marco Asensio were included in the Paris starting XI and both quickly made their presence felt with strikes that Marc-André ter Stegen had to deal with. Barcelona gradually grew into the contest and had two chances midway through the first half, Nuno Mendes clearing off line from Lewandowski before Gianluigi Donnarumma sprawled low to his left keep out Raphinha’s raking drive.
The goalkeeper could not deny the Brazilian forward in the 37th minute though, Raphinha whipping his finish into the far corner after Donnarumma has palmed away Lamine Yamal’s teasing low cross.
The home side struggled to keep their heads above water for the remainder of the first period but the interval worked wonders for Luis Enrique’s men as they were ahead within six minutes of the restart. Ousmane Dembélé’s thumping effort from Ronald Araújo’s half-clearance drew them level before Fabián Ruiz’s incisive pass was neatly dispatched across Ter Stegen by the marauding Vitinha.
Now it was Barcelona’s turn to try and clear their heads and they managed it in the 62nd minute when Raphinha grabbed his second, a poised volley after a perfectly-timed run to latch on to substitute Pedri’s lofted pass.
The Catalan club were not finished either. Dembélé hit a post and, within two minutes, Paris were behind when Andreas Christensen, on his 28th birthday, headed in İlkay Gündoğan’s corner moments after coming from the bench to leave Luis Enrique’s men an uphill task next week.
As it happened: Paris 2-3 Barcelona
PlayStation® Player of the Match: Raphinha (Barcelona)
“He was very dangerous with his movement and speed. He knew exactly when to be available to receive or exploit space behind the Paris defence. Two goals, with the second one especially technically outstanding.”
UEFA Technical Observer panel
Alex Clementson, Paris reporter
Luis Enrique must be in the midst of a whirlwind of emotions. Pride at Paris’s early second-half comeback, regret at letting their lead slip. Fine margins dictate the grandest of occasions and that maxim runs true this evening, but hope is not lost. When Paris up the intensity few teams can cope, but they’ll be looking to elongate those periods of dominance into sustained control in the return. On to Barcelona, a city in which this club has a storied past.
Graham Hunter, Barcelona reporter
It’s an old Hollywood tune, from the western musical Annie Get Your Gun, but all these players must know the song: ‘Anything you can do, I can do better!’ Last night at the Santiago Bernabéu was, by any standards, an all-time classic and this stand-out match, goal following goal, was as if Barcelona wanted to respond to Real Madrid’s excellence and give us all another spectacle. Xavi called it right with his substitutions, two immediate goals thanks to Pedri’s assist and Christensen’s header. Is this enough? Don’t miss next week.
Reaction
Key stats
- Yamal (16 years, 272 days) became the youngest ever player to start a Champions League quarter-final match and Pau Cubarsí (17 years, 79 days) the second youngest. They both surpassed the previous landmark set by Bojan Krkić, who was also playing for Barcelona against Schalke in April 2008.
- Marquinhos became Paris’s all-time highest appearance holder with 436 games for the club.
- Dembélé’s goal was his second in the quarter-finals following the one he scored for Dortmund against Monaco in April 2017.
- This is the fifth successive season that a Brazilian has scored two goals in a Champions League quarter-final match. Philippe Coutinho for Bayern in 2019/20, Vinícius Junior for Real Madrid in 2020/21, Roberto Firmino for Liverpool in 2021/22 and Rodrygo for Real Madrid in 2022/23 were the others.
- There have been 18 goals across the first legs of the four quarter-finals, a figure which has only been surpassed once. That occurred back in 1956/57 in the European Cup when there were 19 goals in the four first-leg encounters.
Fantasy star performers
Line-ups
Paris: Donnarumma; Marquinhos, Lucas Beraldo, Lucas Hernández, Nuno Mendes; Lee (Zaïre-Emery 61), Vitinha, Fabián Ruiz (Gonçalo Ramos 85); Dembélé, Mbappé, Asensio (Barcola 46)
Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Koundé, Ronald Araújo, Cubarsí, João Cancelo; Sergi Roberto (Pedri 61), De Jong (Christensen 75), Gündoğan (Fermín 85); Yamal (João Félix 61), Lewandowski, Raphinha (Ferran Torres 75)
