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Paris Saint-Germain superior to the semi-finals of the Champions League after knocking Barcelona out on a dramatic evening during which the house facet had a participant and their coach despatched off.
Barcelona led 3-2 from the primary leg and an early aim from Raphinha at Montjuic put them close by of the final 4.
Nevertheless, Barcelona defender Ronald Araujo was despatched off on the half-hour mark earlier than objectives from Ousmane Dembele and Vitinha drew PSG stage on combination. Kylian Mbappe then scored a 61st-minute penalty and blasted residence within the dying levels to ship PSG by way of.
Barcelona supervisor Xavi was proven a pink card within the second half for kicking out on the facet of the pitch as his crew’s Champions League dream crumbled.
Right here, our writers analyse and consider the important thing speaking factors of a unprecedented sport.
Comply with the Champions League on The Athletic…
Why was Araujo despatched off?
Reflecting on 180 minutes of absorbing, end-to-end soccer — 59 photographs, 10 objectives, with numerous sprinkles of famous person high quality all through — it feels a disgrace that it ended with out 22 gamers on the pitch.
However the guidelines are the foundations, and Araujo overstepped the road in a tangle with Bradley Barcola, leaving referee Istvan Kovacs with little selection.
The sport ebbed and flowed earlier than the incident, beginning and ending with an Araujo misstep; his go into midfield was overhit, permitting Nuno Mendes to nip in.
Barcelona had been caught of their build-up form, so one go break up their defensive construction and despatched the pacey Barcola away, bearing down on aim with solely Araujo for firm.
Araujo argued that centre-back companion Pau Cubarsi was ready to cowl however that was waved away. He additionally claimed an harmless shoulder-to-shoulder, however nearer inspection reveals a number of factors of contact — a hand on the shoulder, a knee to the again of the thigh, and a clip on the again of the foot — to ship Barcola to the bottom.
Though he fell contained in the penalty space, the contact was adjudged to have come outdoors. As there was no real try to play the ball, a straight pink card and a free kick had been the required outcomes.
An agonising finish to Araujo’s evening, and a harsh twist on which such a high-quality sport ultimately hinged, however these are the moments you invariably need to face on the enterprise finish of the Champions League — and that’s what makes it such a troublesome competitors to win.
Thom Harris
How did Xavi and Barcelona implode?
This was an enormous evening for Barcelona and their coach, an enormous likelihood to make their first Champions League semi-final since 2018-19. Xavi had talked pre-game about how his crew had to make use of their heads and take advantage of the chance.
That appeared far-off when the coach was red-carded for livid protests halfway by way of the second half — proper in the midst of the interval when his crew had been self-destructing and throwing away their possibilities of progress.
Xavi reacted in a totally exaggerated trend to what was a reasonably routine refereeing name, a foul given close to midway. He jumped within the air, his frustration clear, shouting on the third official, after which kicking some UEFA-branded furnishings round a TV digicam within the technical space.
Referee Kovacs was standing for none of it — and rushed over to flash the pink card.
However Barca had already misplaced their heads. At 3-1 up within the tie, Araujo’s try to cease Barcola was badly misjudged, as was his gesture as he left the park. With the tie neatly poised after half-time, Barca’s marking at a nook was terrible, permitting Vitinha time to select his spot and even up the combination rating.
With their blood up, Barca tried to get again within the sport, nevertheless it was not working. Barca’s goalkeeping coach, Jose Ramon de la Fuente, was quickly additionally red-carded for over-the-top protests, when Gundogan went down claiming an unlikely penalty.
Joao Cancelo’s concession of the penalty on Dembele was additionally fully headless.
However Xavi ought to have recognized higher. This was a extremely poor evening for him and his crew.
Dermot Corrigan
What does this Champions League exit imply for Barcelona?
After the primary leg in Paris, issues out of the blue gave the impression to be clicking for Barca. They went into this sport unbeaten in 13 video games — a run that began when Xavi mentioned he would depart in the summertime — and with a sense that their season might have an unexpectedly constructive finish.
The Barca hierarchy had stopped on the lookout for a Xavi alternative, as a substitute engaged on attempting to persuade him to remain. The emergence of younger gamers, reminiscent of Cubarsi and Lamine Yamal, was enthusing followers, and members of the membership hierarchy hold claiming they’ve turned across the membership’s funds.
Knocking out PSG might have boosted Barca earlier than Sunday’s Clasico, the place a win in opposition to leaders Real Madrid would reignite the title race in La Liga. A beneficial path to the Champions remaining was additionally within the offing, with Barca more likely to be favourites in opposition to Borussia Dortmund within the semi-final.
As an alternative, Xavi and Barca are one of many worst nights of their European historical past. That it was PSG, many followers’ ‘bete noir’, will make it even harder to take. Dembele returning to twist the knife on the membership the place he felt so badly handled added additional nonetheless to the ache.
Dembele scored in opposition to Barca, his former membership (Miguel Medina/AFP through Getty Pictures)
Luis Enrique remains to be appreciated by most Barca followers, however the PSG supervisor’s digs at their facet’s model of play can be remembered. That doesn’t bode effectively for Xavi, whose future is again up within the air. El Clasico has develop into much more essential.
Lastly, Xavi and his gamers had been most likely not pondering an excessive amount of about this, however the defeat means Atletico Madrid, moderately than Barca, will play in the 2025 Club World Cup in the USA. That event is value no less than €50million (£42.7m; $53.1m), the sort of money Barcelona could have really used.
Dermot Corrigan
What does victory imply for PSG?
When you wished to see what it meant to PSG, look no additional than two key moments within the remaining 10 minutes. The primary noticed captain Marquinhos, a participant who suffered drastically throughout Barca’s ‘La Remontada’ comeback in 2017, blocked a Robert Lewandowski shot and celebrated furiously, punching his arms. Then there was the ultimate blow inflicted by Mbappe, resulting in the emptying of the PSG dugout to affix him in wild euphoria behind the aim, sharing in a well-known win, with a giant scoreline.
PSG might have wanted the help of a pink card however that won’t tarnish the enjoyment at this end result. They’ve accomplished a comeback in Barcelona’s yard, which has every kind of ghostbusting ramifications (word, the scars are nonetheless felt even when La Remontada was seven years in the past they usually have received in Camp Nou since) in addition to reaching their first semi-final since 2021. There can be some cautious optimism they’ll attain the ultimate — and when you’re there, who is aware of?
Successful the Champions League was not the be-all and end-all for PSG and Luis Enrique this season. Their big summer of change last year, the place 13 new faces had been recruited, was billeted as a swap to the ‘long run’ of their focus. “The Champions League shouldn’t be our obligation,” mentioned Fabian Ruiz earlier than the last-16 tie with Real Sociedad. There are different mitigations; it has taken them time to regulate to Luis Enrique’s explicit, possession-based model they usually haven’t all the time appeared cohesive or as managed as he would really like. They don’t seem to be the fluent, excellent article. This tie illustrated that.
However to say there was no stress could be to distort the image. They’re the perennial French champions, set for one more title, they usually spent greater than €250million on gamers. Whereas the stress was not essentially as acute from on-high, the kindness of the draw, after escaping the ‘group of death‘, additionally steered a run is perhaps attainable.
For his or her star participant, it was this season or bust. Mbappe confronted down the prospect of enjoying his remaining Champions League sport for PSG at Montjuic, Barcelona’s momentary residence. His remaining residence look won’t be his nameless show within the first leg. He has an opportunity to finish issues otherwise.
Certainly, his finale might nonetheless be the best of highs. Their treble hopes are alive.
Peter Rutzler
Was Xavi proper to take off Yamal?
Bear in mind when Barcelona scored the primary aim of the second leg, Montjuic erupting with unbridled pleasure, as Xavi’s crew went 4-2 up on combination? Did that occur tonight?
In a sport of dramatic twists and merciless turns, it as soon as appeared as if 16-year-old Yamal could be the star.
The hosts needed to bide their time all through a tricky opening 10 minutes, shifting back and forth in a compact 4-4-2 block as PSG flew out of the traps. Barcelona noticed simply 21 per cent of the ball in that early spell, counting on the duel-winning high quality of their huge defenders in one-v-one after one-v-one, trying barely bereft of concepts when the ball broke their method.
As he has so typically this season, nevertheless, the youngest man on the sector offered the inspiration, and never simply along with his mesmeric dribbling talent. It was 16-year-old Yamal’s problem on Mendes, moments earlier than the aim, that appeared to elevate the extraordinary spell of stress, and permit his facet to breathe.
Lamine Yamal was sacrificed after Araujo’s pink card (Aitor Alcalde – UEFA/UEFA through Getty Pictures)
Finally bundled residence by Raphinha, Barcelona’s opener was all in regards to the help. Receiving a clipped ball out huge, controlling along with his head, and immediately taking over Mendes to drive into the field, Yamal’s fearless method dragged his facet into the sport.
Yamal can reduce inside or steam in direction of the touchline, rise up a cross or whip a shot into the far nook; who is aware of what he might need been in a position to produce with one other hour up in opposition to Mendes on that right-hand facet?
Xavi needed to sacrifice someone following Araujo’s pink, and given Yamal’s age and relative lack of expertise, his withdrawal was most likely the good selection. As glum as he appeared on the bench, hood up, trying on longingly with a Champions League ball on his lap, this won’t be the final we are going to see of him on this competitors.
Thom Harris
How did Barcola change the tie?
Newcastle United feels a very long time in the past now for Barcola. Within the group levels, as PSG laboured to a belated (if controversial) point against Newcastle on the Parc des Princes, Barcola took a lot of the flak.
The 21-year-old winger missed a couple of possibilities in that sport and was subsequently criticised. However since then, Luis Enrique has stored the religion in him and now, within the greatest sport of the season, Barcola has delivered.
For practically two hours of soccer, PSG desperately tried to launch considered one of Dembele, Mbappe or Barcola behind the Barcelona defence. Xavi’s facet have confirmed to be cussed — however when gifted a glimpse of area, Barcola seized it. His driving run received the foul that introduced a tie-turning pink card. Till then, PSG had been staring down the barrel of a Champions League exit.
He then continued to trigger Jules Kounde issues on the left and helped PSG scale back the deficit. His change of tempo and cutback picked out Dembele for PSG’s opening aim of the evening.
Cutbacks are a trademark of his. At Lyon, he made them a behavior and at PSG, his impression within the remaining helps him to develop into an integral a part of the crew.
The one frustration can be that he picked up a hamstring on worldwide obligation that prevented him from beginning the primary leg. This may occasionally have been a much less irritating tie if that had not been the case.
Peter Rutzler
What did Xavi say?
We’ll deliver you the Barcelona supervisor’s newest ideas as soon as he has spoken in his post-match press convention.
What did Luis Enrique say?
On the pink card: “I feel that with out the pink card we’d have received the sport as effectively.”
On Xavi: “I feel Xavi is the right supervisor for this Barcelona, so I hope he stays within the membership for the forthcoming seasons.”
On enjoying Barcelona: “It’s been so powerful for me from the emotional perspective to play in opposition to Barcelona. I hope it doesn’t occur to me many extra instances sooner or later.”
What subsequent for Barcelona?
Sunday, April 21: Actual Madrid (A), La Liga, 8pm UK, 3pm ET
What subsequent for PSG?
Sunday, April 21: Lyon (A), Ligue 1, 8pm UK, 3pm ET
Really helpful studying
(High pictures: Getty Pictures/TNT Sports activities)
