Mbappé scores twice as PSG beat Barcelona to reach semis
It had to be Kylian Mbappé. Of course it did. He had been quiet; he had been jeered; he had been questioned; even accused of having ‘given up’ as he is joining Real Madrid at the end of the season, when his contract runs out.
And here he was scoring the two goals that knocked Barcelona – their greatest, fiercest rivals – out of the Champions League to earn Paris Saint-Germain a place in the semifinals.
At the end there was fury from the stands. Frustration boiled over at Barcelona’s collapse, their implosion, with water bottles thrown at Mbappé as he celebrated long and hard. And he gave it back.
Vitriol was also aimed at PSG coach – and former Barcelona treble-winning coach – Luis Enrique, who was goaded for his Real Madrid links, having played for them as well as Barca.
“It was very difficult for me with my feelings playing against Barca,” Enrique said. It did not look like that.
It will be Mbappé in all-white in the next campaign with his future confirmed once PSG are sure they cannot face Real Madrid in this competition. That can only happen in the final at Wembley and only if Real prevail against Manchester City in today’s quarterfinal. So we may hear sooner rather than later.
But, right now, Mbappé appears a man on a mission as PSG head towards a semifinal against Borussia Dortmund – who they faced in the group stages. Although PSG finished second, they will be favour- ites to go through. Why? Because they have Mbappé. And he has 13 goals in 13 knockout games. That is a big-game, elite mentality.
“Mbappé has been a proper leader,” Enrique said and the striker broke away as the players jumped around to hug the coach with whom he has, sometimes, appeared to have had a tetchy relationship.
But first they will celebrate this famous comeback. With his 41st and 42nd goals of the season (in just 42 games), including eight in the Champions League, Mbappé led PSG’s own version of the ‘remontada’ (the comeback).
It was a huge slice of revenge following the humiliation they suffered in surrendering a 4-0 goal to lose the second leg 6-1 against Barcelona in 2017. The scars remain deep but there is finally some balm.
“You have to hope for the day that changes everything and today was the day,” declared Enrique, who was Barca’s coach for that tie.
This was not quite as dramatic a turnaround – although it was dramatic enough – and I was also there for that unforgettable game. But Barcelona were 4-2 up on aggregate and in clear control before the comeback was aided by a sending-off and the Spanish giants losing their heads, with coach Xavi Hernandez also dismissed for kicking out at the scenery.
It had been hoped the Champions League exploits and a rally domestically might persuade Xavi to stay after he announced he was also leaving. But this appeared like a tipping point.
“It is a real shame. The referee ruined all of the work this season,” he complained. “I just told the referee that he’s been a disaster. It’s the reality.” The official was not.
And so it is a night that will live long in the memory for PSG. There have been 127 occasions when a team suffered a 3-2 home defeat in the first leg – only six times previously have they recovered. Now it is seven.
And PSG achieved it against their old nemesis. Barcelona have only themselves to blame after an evening which started with their own fans attacking their team bus – mistakenly believing it was PSG’s – before they ended up hurling the abuse and trudging angrily back down the hill from Montjuic into the city.
It will hurt them even more that the player who sparked the revival with a goal was their unpopular former striker Ousmane Dembele. He was whistled and jeered just like Mbappé but appeared – like Mbappé – to thrive on it. Dembele later tweeted: “4-1 ahahahah”.
Raphinha had put Barcelona ahead and it appeared the story would be about the exciting 16-year-old Lamine Yamal, who had created that goal with his pace, but, unfortunately, he was taken off as Xavi needed another defender following the dismissal of Ronald Araujo.
The Uruguayan made the hand gesture of cheating as he eventually walked off but the red card was deserved for pulling back Bradley Barcola.
Barcelona will look for excuses but they failed to manage with 10 men as the outstanding Vitinha drew PSG level on aggregate with a powerful 25-yard shot and then Joao Cancelo rashly brought down Dembele – him again – with Mbappé calmly converting the penalty.
PSG have been here before. They have thrown away winning positions before – and not least with the ‘remontada’ – and while Barcelona pushed there was a chance. But PSG broke and Mbappé struck.
In the other quarterfinal yesterday, Borussia Dortmund beat Atletico Madrid 4-2 at home to advance 5-4 on aggregate.