Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
‘Unbelievable’ win — Rakitic
BARCELONA’S remarkable Champions League comeback to beat Paris St Germain 6-1 at the Nou Camp and snatch a place in the quarter-finals will take some ti me t o sink i n, according to Barca midfielder Ivan Rakitic.
Trailing and wounded from a 4-0 humiliation from the opening l eg of t he last-16 clash in France, the Catalan giants were looking to make history and also avoid their earliest exit from the competition in a decade.
The Croatian could hardly understand what he had just been involved in after Barca sealed a 6-5 aggregate victory.
“I cannot believe it. It was really i mpossible, 15-20 minutes after the game, it is crazy and unbelievable,” said Rakitic.
“The first game in Paris was hard for us, a lot of people spoke hard on our team 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.
“This is Barcelona, the best team in the world and we want to continue our dream in the Uefa Champions League.”
An early header from Luis Suarez and an own goal from Layvin Kurzawa halved the deficit by the interval, before a penalty from Lionel Messi five minutes into the second half had the Nou Camp rocking.
Edinson Cavani’s crucial away goal just after the hour mark looked to have put overall victory in the tie beyond the LaLiga leaders.
Neymar netted a superb late free-kick with just two minutes to go before levelling the aggregate scores from the penalty spot. In the closing moments of stoppage-time, Sergio Roberto volleyed home the all-impor tant winner for Barcelona.