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Kylian Mbappé destroyed Barcelona at the Camp Nou with a devastating hat-trick as PSG clinched a 4-1 victory in the first leg of the round of 16. Mbappé’s imperious performance in Spain has made PSG a great favorite to reach the round of 16 of the competition, and has marked him as one of the pioneers in lifting the European Cup after losing last year’s final to him. Bayern Munich.
The problem for PSG? They have been here before. The French giants beat Barça 4-0 in the first leg of their round of 16 tie in Paris in 2016/17, but collapsed in spectacular fashion in the second leg.
Neymar, now at PSG but injured tonight, inspired Barça to a thrilling 6-1 victory at the Camp Nou to send Barça, with the match now known as The comeback (The return).
The problem of Barça? The Blaugrana are a club in crisis both on and off the pitch. While Messi remains a world-class talent, at 34 his powers are waning and unless his teammates step up in Paris, it will be another year without the European Cup for him.
Follow all the goals and updates on our LIVE Champions League match blog.
Live updates
57 minutes: For anyone starting to worry that Barca is running out of time, a reminder that they need three goals, the same number they needed after 88 minutes in the famous 6-1 comeback in 2017.
54 minutes: Dembélé has looked back as a threat. His last crossing almost finds Dest reaching the back post, but his run is well tracked.
51 minutes: You can see that there is more intent on PSG at the start of the second half – I suspect Mauricio Pochettino must have been furious with the way they sat down and invited Barcelona in the first half.
Hmm. We’re just looking at a few replays of Messi’s penalty, which seems to show that Veratti was invading and it was he who cleared the ball after he fell off the crossbar.
It was VAR verified at the time so I’m not really sure how it hasn’t been retaken.
So is the impossible still?
Barcelona need another three goals without conceding to send this to extra time.
This man has almost kept PSG’s advantage intact. He has been helped by some useless shots and could not have done anything with Messi’s goal, but that penalty save could be huge.
You can’t be happy with why it happened, but Kylian Mbappé wasn’t playing from 12 yards …
Well, that was half the football. Barcelona were the best team, but they have not taken advantage of their opportunities. Ousmane Dembélé was particularly wasteful, while Lionel Messi missed from the penalty spot.
Messi’s lightning bolt and Mbappé’s controversial pitch mean it’s 1-1 on the night.
PSG continues to lead 5-2 on aggregate and Barça, despite their dominance, still need a miracle.
