Two late Kylian Mbappe goals sealed Paris St-Germain’s place in the Uefa Champions League semi-finals with a comeback win at Barcelona.
Leading 3-2 from the first leg, Barca went ahead through Raphinha’s finish from 16-year-old Lamine Yamal’s cross but had Ronald Araujo dismissed soon afterwards.
The visitors capitalised through Ousmane Dembele’s fierce equaliser on the night with five minutes of the first half remaining and levelled on aggregate courtesy of Vitinha’s strike from long range.
Mbappe then scored his first goals of the tie with an emphatic penalty and powerful finish seconds from the end of normal time. Paris will play Dortmund in the semi-finals.
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France captain Mbappe has a formidable record against Barca but, despite a bright start from Luis Enrique’s players, his final season at the club looked on course to sustain an early Champions League exit when the hosts went 4-2 ahead on aggregate.
Araujo’s straight red card led to Yamal making way for Inigo MartÃnez, and with the prodigy seemed to go his team-mates’ hopes.
Dembele equalised from Barcola’s terrific run and cross and, after PSG piled on pressure after the break, Vitinha was allowed too much space for their second, although his was a wonderful finish into the far corner from well outside the box.
João Cancelo’s foul on Dembele gave Mbappe a chance he took in some style to turn the tie around from the spot, but Barca remained persistent in front of their fans.
Kylian Mbappé scores again to send Paris Saint-Germain to the #UCL semi-final 🤯
Comeback complete, game over for Barcelona!
📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/V3nT67ELdu
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) April 16, 2024
Raphinha almost put the tie on track for extra-time with a minute remaining, only for Gianluigi Donnarumma to come to PSG’s rescue.
Seconds later, Mbappe rifled in his second when Marc-Andre Ter Stegen could not hold Marco Asensio’s attempt, ending an absorbing contest.
After a nerve-fraying 180 minutes, PSG will hope not to need a numerical advantage to rescue victory when they play a Dortmund side who beat Atletico Madrid in their quarter-final.
Barca have re-established themselves as a Champions League force to be reckoned with, and outgoing manager Xavi will wonder how much further they could have gone but for the turning point in this game.
