Paris: Paris Saint-Germain survived a 1-1 draw against Barcelona in their second leg to reach the Champions League quarterfinals on 5-2 aggregrate in Paris on Thursday.
Barcelona, who were looking to repeat their famous remontada against PSG in March of 2017, pretty much dominated the play in the first half. It was the hosts who scored first through Kylian Mbappe after he was awarded a penalty for going down under minimal contact. The French forward converted the penalty calmly from eight yards.
Lionel Messi struck back with a spectacular goal just seven minutes later when he picked up a pass near midfield and equalised. He took a couple touches and unleashed a thunderous strike past Keylor Navas from 30 yards out.
This was his 14th UCL goal from outside the area since 2010-11, which is tied with Cristiano Ronaldo for the most in that span. Messi had the chance to pile more pressure on PSG before the break when Antoine Griezmann won a penalty in stoppage time during first half.
But Navas guessed correctly and pushed the Argentine’s attempt onto the crossbar to keep the match even at half-time.
Barcelona continued to threaten PSG in the second half, attacking in waves and constantly pulling defenders out of position. But they could not find the touches needed to convert their many chances into goals and suffered their first round-of-16 exit since the 2006-07 campaign.
“We suffered a lot in the first half, and psychologically it was a test for us. I gathered that the past was something that was talked about a lot here,” PSG coach Mauricio Pochettino said. “We were better in the second half, we were more competitive.”
“We are departing this Champions League in a very different manner from the way we did last season. In this game, we hit our level and that’s the road we have to follow,” said Ronald Koeman following his team’s departure.
