PSG Kyl off BARCA AfTER A RED MIST
BaRcelona ..... Psg ..... 4
(agg 4-6) KYLIAN MBAppE bagged a double to see off 10-man Barcelona as pSG mounted a stunning comeback.
Barca boss Xavi was sent off for booting a UEFA sign as frustrations grew,before Mbappe converted a penalty and grabbed an 89th-minute clincher to seal a semi-final berth for the Ligue 1 side.
It took Mbappe’s tally to 48 goals in the Champions League and set up a lastfour clash with Dortmund.
Both sides emerged from Newcastle’s group.
It was an incidentpacked game full of fury with Luis Enrique’s side coming back from a twogoal deficit on aggregate to win, with the game turning on Ronald Araujo’s controversial red card.
Barca 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, defending deep inside their half with a well-organised structure.
And in the 12th minute ex-Leeds winger Raphinha pinged home the opener to give the home side a commanding lead in the tie.
Raphinha did not know much about the finish off his shin after Lamine Yamal’s trickery and pace down the right wing.
But five-time winners
Barcelona saw the game slip away.
Araujo saw red when beaten to the ball by Bradley Barcola, who was caught in a tussle of arms just outside the box.
That left Xavi’s 10 men an hour to protect a twogoal aggregate lead but, instead of rising to the challenge, they crumbled.
Tension rose in the Camp Nou when Ousmane Dembele levelled the scores on the night after 40 minutes with a brilliant back-post finish from Barcola’s whipped cross.
Vitinha struck the leveller with a thunderbolt from 28 yards after being left free to shoot.
Joao Cancelo then made a crazy tackle on Dembele inside the box to allow Mbappe to win the match from the spot.
Mbappe rifled home another from close range at the death after a series of saves and came close to a hat-trick but was denied by keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Dembele said: “Everyone believed we could qualify. We didn’t give up, we knew we were going to score goals here.
“It was a big shift from the team. We worked the entire week, tactically, with the coach. His tactics were perfect. Even though we conceded the first goal, we didn’t let our heads drop.”