Late subs drive Barcelona win
Raphinha scores two as PSG’s Mbappé struggles in first leg of quarterfinal
PARIS With his team trailing 2-1 and Paris Saint-Germain pushing hard for another goal, Barcelona coach Xavi Hernández’s substitutions paid off immediately.
Midfielder Pedri set up the equalizer for Raphinha within a minute of coming on at Parc des Princes. Then, two minutes after his introduction, central defender Andreas Christensen’s header from a corner gave Barcelona a 3-2 win in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal Wednesday.
“Pedri came on and helped us a lot. I’m very proud of the team. Christensen also came on and helped,” Xavi said. “Tactically, we did really well.”
Raphinha was the pick of Barcelona’s players on the night, and the Brazil forward had scored twice before Christensen’s 77th-minute goal.
The imposing Christensen head- ed I lkay Gündog an’s corner from the left past Gianluigi Donnarumma from close range as the PSG goalkeeper stood rooted to his line instead of challenging for the ball.
PSG coach Luis Enrique’s head dropped after the goal.
“We made things a bit difficult for ourselves. We managed to turn things around in the second half and could have had a third (goal),” Enrique said. “Everything’s still open for us and we will go (to Barcelona) with ambition.” The return leg is next Tuesday. The rivalry between PSG and Barcelona has intensified in recent years, with Barcelona again in the driver's seat.
PSG knocked Barcelona out in the round of 16 in 2021, but endured quarterfinal exits in 2013 and 2015. Then, in March 2017, Enrique’s Barca routed PSG 6-1 in the return leg of their last-16 match to make
Champions League comeback history after losing 4-0. Raphinha’s lively performance and finishing Wednesday contrasted with a lacklustre performance from Kylian Mbappé, who has scored a club record 251 goals for PSG but did not hit the target this time or make many of his trademark electric runs.
Atletico Madrid 2, Borussia Dortmund 1
Atletico Madrid moved closer to returning to the Champions League semifinals, beating Borussia Dortmund in Maderid in the first leg of the quarterfinals on Wednesday.
Atletico took a first-half lead with goals by Rodrigo De Paul and Samuel Lino and outplayed Dortmund during most of the match, but the German team stayed alive thanks to a late goal by substitute Sébastien Haller. Dortmund threatened in the end and twice hit the woodwork in the final minutes.
The second leg will be played
Tuesday in Germany.
“We will be ready and hopefully we can put Atletico back in the semifinals of the Champions League,” De Paul said. “We will give all we have to make sure that happens, but we know that it’s going to be complicated.”
Atletico hasn’t made it to the last four since 2017, when it lost to city rival Real Madrid. The Spanish club has won three of its last six quarterfinals.
Dortmund, the 1997 European champion, is looking to return to the semifinals for the first time since 2012-13, when it lost the final to fellow German club Bayern Munich.
“We have to live with this result today,” Dortmund captain Emre Can said. “It’s not easy to play football here because they defend very well. There were phases where they completely overpowered us in the duels. So we’ll take the 2-1 and everything is open for next week.”