MIRACLE MEN OF BARCA
Miracle men of Barca re-write record books with stunning last-gasp winner
MIRACLE workers Barcelona produced the greatest comeback in football history to stun PSG and dump the French side out of the Champions League.
With 88 minutes on the clock, the Catalans, who lost the first leg 4-0, still needed three goals – and Barca’s superstars duly delivered, with Sergi Roberto’s clincher coming five minutes into injury time.
SUPERSUB Sergi Roberto struck five minutes into stoppage time to complete the greatest comeback in European history last night.
The Spaniard’s last-gasp goal helped Barcelona recover from a 4-0 first-leg deficit on a night of high drama at the Nou Camp.
Edinson Cavani looked to have crushed Barcelona’s hopes of an unprecedented result with a vicious half volley with the Catalans leading 3-0 but Luis Enrique’s side refused to buckle and scored three more goals to march into the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
The Uruguayan hitman’s rocket brought Lionel Messi, Neymar, Luis Suarez and Co back down to earth with a bang before they bounced back up again and reached for the stars.
Midfielder Ivan Rakitic hailed the result and claimed Barca produced the unimaginable.
Asked if what he and his team-mates had just achieved had sunk in the Croatian said: “No, I cannot believe it. It was really impossible and 15 to 20 minutes after the game it is crazy and unbelievable.
“Thank you to the team, to the people around the club and the fans. It was a really special day. The first game in Paris was hard for us but the reaction was special. It is history. We want to keep going on.
“We had to believe. Four-nil was hard but it is football. We saw it in the Super Bowl, what is possible in sport. Today was crazy.”
Barca coach Luis Enrique threw caution to the wind and played without full-backs in the 3-4-3 his side have been practising since last month’s first leg and his gamble paid off. What had seemed a pipe dream for Barca started turning into a nightmare for Unai Emery’s PSG when Suarez nodded home in the third minute after Marquinhos panicked and made a mess of his clearance. Roared on by most of the 96,290 supporters inside a Nou Camp that has rarely felt so alive, Barcelona pushed high up the pitch, suffocating the visitors.
In the 40th minute Andres Iniesta’s backheel flick forced the dumfounded Layvin Kurzawa to slice it into his own net with PSG keeper Kevin Trapp stuck in no-man’s land.
The French champions had their backs to the wall and when Neymar forced a penalty by colliding with the slipping Thomas Meunier in 50 minutes, Messi smashed it home to nudge the Catalans on to the verge of a historic comeback.
In the 62nd minute Kurzawa made amends for his own goal when he beat Rakitic in Barca’s penalty area to knock the ball down to Cavani.
Time stood still as the striker shaped his half volley and Marc-Andre Ter Stegen stood still as it rifled past him into the roof of the net.
Neymar’s stunning free-kick gave the five-time European champions a sliver of hope once again and he added another from the penalty spot in the 90th minute following Suarez’s theatrical tumble in the box.
Five frantic minutes of stoppage time followed before the moment that had seemed destined from the start as Roberto stretched to volley past Trapp with almost the last kick of an astonishing game.