UCL: Experience Couldn’t Do The Magic, As Barcelona Fearlessly Beat PSG

Bacelona’s Raphinha scored two times in the first leg Champions League game in France, but it was Andreas Christensen, on his 28th birthday celebration, who headed the decisive goal for Xavi Hernández’s men in Paris.

Barcelona returned a 3-2 lead to Spain for the second leg of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final tie with PSG after a rollercoaster first leg in the French capital.

Kang-in Lee and Marco Asensio were named in the PSG first XI and both immediately made their presence felt with strikes that Marc-André ter Stegen needed to manage.

Barcelona bit by bit came into the game and had two chances halfway through the first half. Nuno Mendes cleaned line off of Robert Lewandowski before Gianluigi Donnarumma spread low to one side to keep out Raphinha’s raking drive.

The goalkeeper couldn’t deny the Brazilian forward in the 37th minute, but Raphinha whipped his completion into the furthest corner after Donnarumma has palmed away Lamine Yamal’s prodding low cross.

The home side PSG struggled to save their heads above water until the end of the main time frame, but the interval made all the difference for Luis Enrique’s men as they were ahead in something like six minutes of the restart.

Ousmane Dembélé’s pounding pressure from Ronald Araújo’s halfway clearance drew them level against his former club before Fabián Ruiz’s sharp pass was perfectly dispatched across Ter Stegen by the ravaging Vitinha.

Barcelona immediately turned and cleared their heads and oversaw it in the 62nd minute when Raphinha got his second, a solid volley after a superbly coordinated hurry to lock on to substitute Pedri’s lobbed pass.

The Catalans were not done yet. Dembélé hit a post and, in the span of two minutes, Paris were behind when Andreas Christensen, on his 28th birthday celebration, headed in Ilkay Gündoğan’s corner minutes in the wake of coming from the seat to leave Luis Enrique’s men with a difficult task one week from now.

Raphinha, who was voted the Player of the match, was exceptionally dangerous with his growth and speed. He knew precisely when to be free to get or take advantage of room behind the Paris defender. Raphina scored two goals, with the second one particularly considered in fact very exceptional.

Luis Enrique was in the midst of a whirlwind of emotions. PSG’s early second-half comeback was not enough to carry them through, as they let their lead slip. PSG will be looking to elongate those periods of dominance into sustained control in the return leg.

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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 it enough? Don’t miss next week.

Reaction after the game:


Xavi Hernández, Barcelona coach:

“I’m extremely proud of my team. If you don’t feel proud now then when? I think Paris probably still remain favourites to go through. They are a terrific side and we’ve managed to reduce their impact tonight – we aimed to send them wide and we managed that. Particularly in the first half, we pressed really well; nice and high.”

Raphinha, Barcelona forward:

“These last few weeks we’ve been working very hard in training. To come here and to return home with a win is pretty positive I’d say. Winning is important, but this tie is nowhere near finished.”

Luis Enrique, Paris coach:

“Obviously it’s a defeat we didn’t want. We had good moments. We were up against a good team. We pressed well in the second half. But they were good, and they regained the lead. If we watch all the quarter-finals, there have been a lot of goals. When you play at this level, every team is a top outfit. We have to think of next week as a final. It’ll be a final in Barcelona’

Key statistics:

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 also played for Barcelona, aged 17 years 217 days, 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 his strike for Dortmund against Monaco in April 2017.

This is the fifth successive season in which a Brazilian has scored two goals in a Champions League quarter-final match, after Philippe Coutinho (Bayern 2019/20), Vinícius Junior (Real Madrid 2020/21), Roberto Firmino (Liverpool 2021/22) and Rodrygo (Real Madrid 2022/23).

Raphinha is the first player to score his first Champions League goal for Barcelona in a quarter-final since Yaya Touré against Schalke in 2008.

Christensen is the first Barcelona player to score in the Champions League on his birthday.

Barcelona have only failed to score in two of their last 28 UEFA competition matches against French teams.

Barça have lost the first leg in only one of their last 16 two-legged UEFA competition quarter-final ties (W8 D7).

The second leg takes place in Barcelona on Tuesday 16 April.

Whoever comes through this tie will face the winners of the Atlético/Dortmund tie in the semi-finals.

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